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drs1231

Feeding Bluebirds

drs1231
9 years ago

I am new to this forum but I am interested in the remarks from other members. I also wanted give a brief history of my Bluebird interest. I have a friend who informed me of a man who sold Bluebird houses. I bought three and placed two on a tree and one on a post in my back yard. In 2010 I had observed the first nesting in the house attached to the post. There were five eggs in the box. I was very excited to see the eggs hatch. After several days I came home from work and my neighbor told me that there was something at the Bluebird box. I checked it and found that all the eggs were gone but the nest was not even disturbed. I did not have a cone around the bottom of the house and I am fairly certain the thief was a snake. I was really bummed. After several of years of various other birds nesting in the box I finally got the Bluebirds back. This year (2014) I had two nests that fledged. I had read on the forum about feeding the Bluebirds mealworms. I started feeding the mealworms to the Bluebirds when the first nesting occurred. The feeder is very close to the nest and both the male and female ate the mealworms and fed them to the chicks. It is now December 21st and the Bluebirds are still here and eating the mealworms. It is expensive about ten dollars a pound but as long as they stay I will feed them. My only problem is the sparrows have now acquired a taste for mealworms and they seem to eat more than the Bluebirds. I am now looking for an alternative to the mealworms to feed the Bluebirds that the they will eat. So far the only thing they are interested in is mealworms. Does anyone have success in feeding the wintering Blues without mealworms?

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