Birds love all types of seeds including sunflower seeds, these seeds are great for birds as they contain a variety of healthy fats, several vitamins and minerals as well as beneficial plant compounds. These seeds have especially high levels of vitamin E and selenium which function as antioxidants in the bird’s body. However, if you’ve ever had sunflower seeds you’ll know that the shell is quite hard and can be a burden to crack open, so how do birds do it? This article explores the question of ‘how do birds open sunflower seeds’

Bird beaks are quite strong, in addition, birds have learnt to use these beaks to break through hard shells like sunflower seed shells. Birds do this by securing seeds in their beaks then making a chewing motion. This up and down chewing motion breaks the shell open and the shell falls off

How do birds open sunflower seeds?

Beaks give birds a natural advantage. These organs inspire innovation and creativity on a daily basis. Beaks help birds perform complex tasks, one task that beaks help with is opening sunflower seeds without fingers.

To understand how this happens, we need to know how humans open sunflower seeds. Firstly, one would peel back a portion of the outer shell using your nail. You would then extract the seed from the shell coverings by peeling back the rest of the shell.

Birds do all the peeling using just their beaks. Firstly, the bird will grip the seed firmly in its beak and make a motion as though it is chewing. As the bird makes this up and down motion with its beak parts of the shell fall off. Finally, when the seed is completely free from its shell the bird swallows the seed.

Can birds eat sunflower seeds in the shell?

Yes, a bird’s digestive system can grind and absorb sunflower seeds in the shell, however, it would be a lot of work for less nutritional value and more roughage to process and expel from the body. Sunflower seeds, that do not have a shell covering, are easier to digest for birds and the birds will clearly show their preference by clearing a bowl of seeds with no shells over seeds with shells. 

Can baby birds eat sunflower seeds?

The digestive system of a baby bird can’t handle whole foods easily, this includes whole sunflower seeds. Generally, parent birds digest food for their babies and then regurgitate it into their mouths By the time a parent bird regurgitates food into a baby bird’s mouth, it has already been softened by digestive juices. It is therefore easy for the crop of the baby bird to handle this mix. Older baby birds are likely to digest the seeds if their bodies are used to harder foods 

What is the best sunflower seed for birds?

Birds prefer the black oil of all the sunflower seed varieties. Below are some advantages that black oil has over other seeds:

• Smaller in size
• Contain more oil
• Have thinner shells 

Some birds will prefer striped sunflower seeds over black oil seeds, but this isn’t generally the case. All birds will definitely be drawn to unshelled seeds as these are easier to grab and swallow without a long process of removing the husk. 

Black oil sunflower seeds are so popular among small animals that it might be necessary to find a way of repelling other small animals that reduce the supply of seed meant for birds.

Can birds eat all seeds?

Seeds make up a large portion of a wild bird’s diet. However, birds do not eat all types of seeds as some seeds are poisonous to birds, are too large, or contain little nutritional value to birds. Each bird species choose which seeds to eat based on instinct. Some seeds may be edible to birds, but they may come into contact with human food that is toxic to birds, an example of this are chocolate-covered seeds.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, birds open sunflower seeds by securing the seeds in their mouths and making a chewing motion to crush the shell, the shell then falls off on its own during this process. Birds need to remove sunflower seed shells as eating seeds with the shell intact requires more effort when digesting. Baby birds aren’t able to digest sunflower seeds, thus, parents eat and digest the seeds then regurgitate them into the babies mouths. The best sunflower seeds for birds are black oil sunflower seeds 

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