[bcbirdclub] Re: Feeding Bluebirds
- From: "Roger Mayhorn" <mayhorn@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Buchanan County Bird Club" <bcbirdclub@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:50:22 -0500
Hi Bonnie,
I am responding online in case others may be interested in feeding bluebirds.
Bluebirds eat mainly insects during the summer months, but during the fall and
winter they switch over to wild grapes, poke berries, rosehips and other fruits
and berries that remain on the plants during the cold weather. When the
temperature reaches 40 degrees or above insects become active, and the birds
also eat those.
Except when wild foods are scarce or covered with a layer of ice the bluebirds
do okay, so I think your friend's bluebirds will adapt and survive, especially
that far south.
As Larry Pinson in KY suggested, mealworms are great for feeding bluebirds
anytime. Mealworms can be purchased via the internet http://www.grubco.com/, or
at
http://www.rainbowmealworms.net/ , and once you have a supply, if you want, you
can continue to raise your own. After awhile, if the worms are kept in a warm
place, the mealworms do change to the Darkling Beetle a black beetle that can't
fly and can't climb up the sides of a plastic container. These beetles then lay
more eggs and those hatch into more mealworms. I used to raise mealworms and
feed them to nesting bluebirds. The parent bird would come to the feeding tray
and get as many worms as it could carry at one time, then fly back to the young
in the nest.
Some bluebird enthusiasts put mealworms in a special feeder with transparent
plastic or glass on the sides. At one, or both ends, a hole just large enough
for a bluebird to enter is cut into the feeder. Since the bluebirds are use to
entering holes in cavities, since they are cavity nesters, they readily enter
to get the worms, while non-cavity nesting birds are reluctant to enter.
Feeding the bluebirds this way helps keep the other birds from gobbling up the
feast before the bluebirds get them.
Some people feed raisins, blueberries and other fruits to bluebirds during
winter. Fellow birder, David Raines, picks poke berries during the fall and
freezes them. During the winter he thaws the berries and feeds them to the
birds. I have tried it, and the birds love them. As with any feeder the birds
have to get used to the food being there, so they will know to come to it
during bad weather, when they have difficulty finding food elsewhere.
A special suet mixture can be made to help out the bluebirds in winter, though
personally, I have not had success with getting bluebirds to eat from a suet
feeder.
Here are a couple of sites online that should also help with ideas on foods and
feeders.
http://audubon-omaha.org/bbbox/bluefood.htm
http://www.sialis.org/feeder.htm
Good luck to your friend and his bluebirds,
Roger Mayhorn
----- Original Message -----
From: BLynn444@xxxxxxx
To: bcbirdclub@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2007 9:38 PM
Subject: [bcbirdclub] Re: Northern Harrier and Horned Larks
Dear Roger:
Here on the Tennessee River in Northwestern Alabama we have a question. A
friend has a hydroponic and organic farm and has put out several blue bird
boxes which were very successful this summer; each one had a couple of broods.
But, the birds appear to be staying for the winter and he is worried that they
will have problems finding food. Do you have any suggestions about feeding
them? There are at several birds that still sit at the end of the rows on
poles where vegetables used to be growing and the bugs were available for
feeding. Now there is little for them to eat. Do you have any ideas about
what should be done? Any ideas would be helpful.
Thanks a lot,
Bonnie
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