On more than one occasion I have mentioned that some of the birds I watch like to sit in place and eat bite after bite while others grab a tidbit and fly off somewhere else to eat it. One of the important factors in which they do is whether or not they use their feet to hold their food. The birds like cardinals and doves that can open a seed and eat it with just their beaks tend to be the stay and eat type. Birds like this tufted titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) that use their feet to hold food while they eat are usually grab and go feeders. By flying off to somewhere else in order to eat these birds are safer from predators since they are looking down while they eat. Also by being in the underbrush or in the tree foliage, they are less likely to have their food stolen from them while they are holding it. Just this morning, I was able to catch this handsome bird as he ate a peanut that he had gotten from the feeding station. Notice how the nut is being held in both feet and how he has to bow his head in order to eat. It’s easy to see, looking at these images, how it’s safer to eat in a protected area and away from the other hungry birds.