Best Nuts for Squirrels & Birds: Fantastic & Wonderful Tips to Feed
Have you ever seen a squirrel’s excitement when finding its ideal nut? Watching them enjoy the best nuts for squirrels and birds is a delightful experience. It is fascinating to see how a squirrel, sitting on its back legs, skillfully rotates and tries to opens the nut. With quick movements of its tiny hands, it bites rapidly to unshell the nut, working like a member of a well-trained community. Birds, too, eagerly eat their favorite nuts with impressive speed.
Feeding squirrels and birds with the best nuts is more than just a gesture of kindness—it’s a way to connect with nature and witness the joy of wild creatures thriving in their natural world. Every nut offered is a seed of harmony between us and the wildlife around us.
Olivia Harper, American bird watcher
Key Takeaways
- Offer Nutritious Nuts: Select the appropriate nuts for squirrels and birds and buy walnuts, almonds, and pecans so that the feeder would give necessary nutrition to them.
- Go Natural with In-Shell Nuts: Furthermore, choose to consume ‘In Shell’ nuts preferably taking fresh and natural products for the benefits of the squirrels and birds teeth and encourage natural foraging.
- Avoid Unhealthy Snacks: Avoid peanuts and corn as they are junk foods without any nutritional value and are destructive to their health; instead opting for fresh nuts and fruits free from mold.
My brother and I frequently observed these scenes, as many squirrel and birds families lived in our backyard trees. Living together, they learned we loved them because there were always plenty of treats and a water bowl. And, of course, they liked us, too! Every time we shook the peanuts in the bag, they would jump down the tree trunk, knowing it was snack time again.
Our New Furry & Feathery Friends & Their Care
When we moved to a new house a few years later, we found new squirrel pals and birds species, many a time by observing them I recall my vacations where I saw many beautiful white birds in Kauai. However, coming toward squirrels most people try to prevent them from eating their garden vegetables, fruit trees, and bird feeder seeds. Many regions of America are witnessing the destruction of squirrel habitats. This loss of habitat means that squirrels need more natural places and food sources.
Can you imagine a world without squirrels and birds? Providing nuts for squirrels and birds in your garden is as good a habit as watering your plants. I’ll keep these thoughts short and sweet, so let’s continue!
What are the Best Ways to Feed Squirrels?
Most people prefer feeding peanuts and corn to squirrels, but we must know what not to feed squirrels because some foods don’t benefit squirrel health and add little nutritional value, as they do for birds. To keep squirrels out of trouble, you can give them something healthy to gnaw on to help preserve their teeth.
The best nuts for squirrels are acorns, hazelnuts, almonds, beech nuts, pecans, hickory nuts, macadamia nuts, pine nuts, black walnuts, and even peanuts (though in moderation).
How Do I Feed Squirrels?
In our new home, my brother asked for ideas on how to share snacks with our neighborhood squirrels. I feed the squirrels through steel feeders, which they find appealing. Squirrels can’t chew through or destroy the metal, and the wire mesh design of these feeders slows down the speed at which they empty them. Here are some tips to help squirrels reach your feeder:
- Place squirrel-friendly feeders on or near trees.
- Assist the squirrels by making the feeder easy to access.
- Avoid using weight-activated shut-offs or baffles.
- Choose foods that squirrels will love.
Alternatively, you can plant a seed table or scatter their favorite snacks in specific spots near your bird feeders.
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What do squirrels love to eat? Thanks to their natural diet, squirrels go nuts for the treats you leave—shelled or unshelled. They’re known for their quick movements and climbing abilities as they explore areas up to five miles around them.
Squirrels don’t just eat nuts and seeds, as many believe. While their diet mainly consists of plants, they also consume some animal materials. For instance, the Eastern Gray Squirrel eats insects, amphibians, small mammals, bird eggs, and nestlings. However, plant matter comprises most of their diet, including fruits, seeds, fungi, and small insects.
Squirrels in the wild enjoy tree flowers and buds from various trees, such as butternut, cedar, and dogwood. As people interact with squirrels, they may add new foods to their menu—some healthy and sourced naturally.
Even when foraging close to their nests, squirrels never stop moving. Their diets need to be rich in proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals to fuel their energetic acrobatics.
When feeding squirrels, offer them a variety of nuts, especially larger ones like English walnuts. Large nuts provide a challenge when it comes to cracking them open, but don’t worry—you won’t need to leave out your nutcrackers for them. They will handle it!
Nutritional Importance of Nuts for Squirrels
Each kind of nut, still in its shell, is nutritious and tasty for our squirrel friends. Acorns, pecans, walnuts, whole roasted pumpkin seeds, and pistachios provide squirrels with extra protein.
Almonds and hazelnuts should be given less often because they contain less calcium. Nuts offer many healthy nutrients, as well as fatty proteins, and some squirrels enjoy gnawing on the shells. The shells help them exercise their jaw muscles and maintain their teeth. How does one manage that?
- Walnuts: Squirrels generally love walnuts.
- Peanuts: Squirrels don’t mind peanuts, either.
- Almonds: Squirrels have a taste for almonds as well.
- Hazelnuts: Another excellent option for squirrels.
- Pecans: Squirrels also enjoy pecans.
- Acorns: If oak trees are nearby, your squirrel will love them because they are a natural source of food and nutrition.
Squirrels Also Love Vegetables and Fruits
Even though they enjoy nuts, no dought squirrels are primarily vegetarians and still need to eat other types of food. Yes, you guessed it! That’s why your garden’s fruits and veggies keep disappearing. Squirrels (and birds) will eat fruits and vegetables that are readily available to them. Some squirrel favorite food include strawberries, apples, grapes, watermelon, bananas, broccoli, cucumber, pumpkin, avocados, peaches, citrus fruits, and berries.
Avoid giving them dried fruit. Fresh fruit (as listed above) is best for their health. However, remember that these are just snacks—so limit how much you feed them. Start by feeding them a few times a week.
Corn and Peanuts
Naturally, every squirrel stores a peanut or two in their cheeks at any given time. I’ve heard people say that peanuts aren’t great for squirrels because peanuts (or legumes) are less nutritious than other nuts. Peanuts have a relatively soft shell that can quickly become moldy if not consumed fresh. If you’ve just bought a new bag of peanuts, it makes sense to toss some outside for the squirrels to enjoy.
However, avoid giving them to squirrels if the peanuts are stale or show signs of mold or discoloration. The same applies to corn. Many people leave out dried corn cobs specifically intended for squirrels, but these can be harmful. Corn, like peanuts, can develop mold, which is dangerous because the fungus can kill our furry and feathered friends. Squirrels[1] need fresh, mold-free snacks, just like hummingbirds need clean feeders.
Tips to Keep Squirrels Happy
We appreciate your love for wild squirrels and know you want to keep them content and safe. Here are some tips on how to take better care of them in your garden:
- Hide food around your backyard to encourage natural squirrel behavior, such as foraging.
- While placing food on a bird table is convenient, it could disrupt the feeding habits of birds in your yard.
- Try placing roasted peanuts on a string and watch as they try to remove them—it can be entertaining for you and your family for hours.
- Ensure that bird feeders are secured and that you are providing safe seeds for wild birds at home.
Remember When Feeding Squirrels
When feeding squirrels, keep the following things in mind:
- It’s okay to treat squirrels with nuts, but they shouldn’t be the main part of their diet since nuts are very fatty.
- Prioritize the squirrels’ health by providing unsalted and unsweetened nuts.
- Make sure the nuts are fresh—avoid giving them spoiled ones.
- Observe the squirrels from a distance while they eat. Avoid getting too close or hand-feeding them, as this could lead to biting incidents.
- Offering nuts to squirrels is a fun way to interact with them, but it’s important to ensure they’re exposed to their natural food sources.
Tips to Avoid While Feeding Squirrels
Among the common wildlife foods people offer are cereals, which are sugary, sweet, and low in nutrients—potentially harmful to squirrels. However, squirrels can get nutritional benefits from natural foods, so focus on providing them with healthy options. Remember that starting with in-shell nuts, fruits, and veggies is a great idea the next time you treat your furry squirrel friends!
FAQ
Conclusion
It can be really entertaining to feed squirrels and birds ; besides, every person would like to help such active animals exist. You also ensure that they have other foods to eat such as the best nuts for squirrels and nuts for birds, fresh fruits and vegetables that helps them in their growth and development.
Some of the avoidable mistakes are for instance; feeding them items you wouldn’t consider fit for human consumption like peanuts or corn, these are unhealthy and do not contain healthy nutritional value, they are likely to harm their health. Do not forget about nuts in shells as they are good for their nutrition and they gnaw on them helping them maintain their oral health and pass the time.
Rather than go down that road, one should provide natural foods of fresh origin, packed and not moldy, that should resemble the diets that the creatures would so be fed in the wild nature. Hour after hour, how the spunky squirrels that love nuts for squirrels can be entertaining to watch and how the birds love nuts for birds can be fun to have around to the backyard.
Do not feed them by hand and instead use special feeders and spill some food on the ground to allow them go for it as wild squirrels would do. Lis to their actions because they will tell you what they enjoy doing and what they do not which would help in identifying their preferences. Together we can help Squirrels and Birds have more nuts to munch and live more peacefully, can’t we ?
