Why do birds fly off with seed?

When the birds fly away with the seeds or peanuts, do they store them somewhere or do they eat them? They seem to go quite a distance between each trip to the hand or feeder.

Thanks for asking about where all the seeds are going that the birds take from you and the bird feeder. I have observed woodpeckers caching food, but I was not sure about chickadees, nuthatches and other feeder birds. From the articles I found in these links, though, it seems chickadees and nuthatches also store food and apparently are able to find the food later when they need it!

Do birds store food for the winter? (All About Birds)

What are they doing with all those seeds? (FeederWatch)

Thanks for sharing your observations!

-Naturalist Dottie Drockton