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I am seeing blues regularly scoping out from high tree tops about 30 yards across the street the past week. This is the first time I ever saw them regularly in the winter. Maybe my sparrow eradicating is paying off. So I put a mealworms feeder tray out to try to entice them. Do you think they’ll be able to see them? Any suggestions? It is a simple hanging blue tray with live mixed with dry mealworms. Can the see them from that far away? It is next to my bluebird house.
They’ll only see them if they fly closer to your feeder. Usually I suggest putting the mealworms where you see them perching but obviously you can’t do that across the street. If you see them perching in your yard though… Do that. And later you can move your feeder closer and closer to your house. They love homemade suet too.
Tammy
Thanks, Tammy. Hoping they see it before the starlings eventually find it. Maybe a decoy bluebird would help draw them in?
Great! I made it as easy for them as possible. To begin with I put mine in a flat pie pan (glass or ceramic for slick sides) and put that in a rod iron flower pot stand. I wanted to use white because I felt they could see the mealworms better but I only had clear. I felt they could see the mealworms crawling around in the pie pan easier from their piercing area. If course so can the other birds. Mockers and robins are bad too at raiding the mealworms.
If during the season they perch on a fence or something I would put it there. Where they can look down on it. They also should be checking out their nestbox too so close to that would be a good location.
Hope they find it soon!Tammy
Glad to hear from you Philly Blues and you also Tammy. I was getting a little bored with winter coming on (although we have had fantastic record-breaking warmth here in the Midwest.
Great you both are seeing your blues and watching them eat the mealworms. I switch to home-made peanut butter suet in October through March usually. I have extra winter birds come in the winter, mainly juncos & white-crowned sparrows. They, along with the HOSP of course, come to the cage feeder when I whistle for them. I will shoo the HOSP away as much as I can until the blues and others get to the feeder. I don’t really have a huge amount of HOSP, but more than I want. I have tried the ground cages to catch them but I always wind up with a Hugh amount of other birds, so gave up.Merry Christmas to everyone – if anyone is traveling, have a safe trip.
Thanks Carol! For me this is a transformation of a neighborhood one year at a time! Bluebirds haven’t been heard here for decades. So neat to see a year where I actually have seen more bluebirds than sparrows in a week. This has been a very difficult year for me and I am hanging on by a thread lately….but the bluebirds give me a spiritual spark of happiness. I can’t afford yet to move to a place where they are conmon. But some day I hope. Merry Christmas to you as well and God bless!
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