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Good news Chris. Like Carol and others, mine are still just looking. My 2 older birds and 2 younger females were at the mealworm feeder this morning but no one is going into the nestbox yet. While we are having some 50+ degree days, our nights have been in the mid 20s and 30s. No material in the box. I still have lots of other birds (gold and house finches, titmice, chickadees, woodpeckers, and juncos around the other feeders. Juncos still swarm to the deck when the finches show up at the feeder.
David
Stafford, VAGood to hear that everyone is seeing bluebird activity. I have had 9 bluebirds at the feeder all winter, up until a week ago when the number went down to 3. I have been feeding live mealworms all winter (mealworm farm) and did not get to make Carol’s suet. I am not sure where the other blues went. I know there were at least 2 and possibly 3 males and the rest females. It did get very cold for more than a week during the last part of February when the other birds disappeared. I did see several bluebirds in other parts of the neighborhood and did see my male bird chasing some bluebirds from the feeder.
I do have a new nestbox up for the season and the male and female have been to the house but I have not seen them enter the house and there are still no droppings inside. The nestbox has been up for about a week. The weather is still chilly at night (in the 30’s and 40’s) but it should warm up soon.
I am looking forward to another good season with the blues.
David
Stafford, VACarol, here is he feeder that I ordered (except it only has the feeding perch on one side, not 2 like this one. It has an adjustable spring to account for the weight of the heavier birds. I had one before that was very effective in keeping the blackbirds and starlings away but the squirrels still found a way to hang from the pole and not get on the perch to feed. I am going to pole mount this one with a baffle to keep them away.
I have had the blues that come to my feeder go into the nestbox but no “couples” yet. Still too cold. I still have the old box up but will replace it after the snow goes away.
David
Stafford, VAFUN, yes. But I am getting a bit concerned that they are spending so much time at the feeder. And it is not just the 4 birds that I saw before. It appears that the whole flock of 9 or more are out there chasing the smaller finches, Chickadees and others away. I do have a hopper feeder on order and it should arrive in a week or so. That may divert them from this feeder so the small birds can get the food also.
David
Stafford, VAThanks Carol, I am going to try it. My wife will probably laugh at me trying to cook this. Yes, I am feeding a lot of carrots to the mealworms and beetles. At least 3 times a week for the larger feeders and midsized worms and twice a week for the smaller ones. 3 times a week for the beetles.
Here are a couple of photos that I took this afternoon while I was feeding the blues. I am standing about 6 feet from the cage feeder but on the wrong side to get good color on the birds. The ones on the shepherd’s hook behind the feeder are about 10 feet away.
Happy New Year.
David
Stafford, VAThat is great news phillyblues. What a way to get through the Cpvid restrictions. Reducing the HOSP population is a good way to relieve stress and do something positive for the “birding” community. Keep up the good work.
David
Stafford, VAMerry Christmas to all. It has been cold but not much snow. Most days are clear and the bluebirds are out. I have been putting mealworms out for them from my feeder stock in the morning and late afternoon (3:30 – 4:00 pm). Since I am raising the worms I have increased the feeding to 75-80 worms. There are usually 9 of them waiting in the trees for the food. They clear the feeder bowl in about 5 minutes so the worms do not freeze. I do have some gold finches, tree sparrows, juncos, cardinals, and woodpeckers that frequent the yard but I have not put up a suet feeder yet.
Carol do you make your own pb suet? If so could you share a recipe. I would like to feed the other birds but do not want to interfere with the blue’s feeding.p.s. The mealworm farm is going great. I have had hatches of between 3500 – 5000 worms about every 3 – 4 weeks I put a container of around 1500 in the refrigerator after my first hatch in October – and forgot they were there. Found them the middle of December very inert. Had to throw away the whole container. I now have a note on the refrigerator that there is a container that needs a carrot slice once a week.
David
Stafford, VAThank you Connie and Julie. It is an interesting experience. Getting into a routine is the hardest part of this adventure. I always want to tinker with one of the drawers of eggs or worms to see if I can get them to grow faster – but they have their own time schedule and develop however they want. I am now pretty well into my 3rd batch of eggs, but I have not notice much going on in the second batch. I have noticed only a few worms in comparison to my first batch. Because of my moving drawers around, I may have emptied a drawer of eggs that I thought was old food and waste. Lesson Learned: I now have BIG labels on the drawers to identify what they contain.
I am changing my feedings to about 8:00 AM and 3:30 PM while it is still light. If I wait until 4:30 PM they do not always come down to feed. Yesterday. those 50-60 mph winds bent my feeder pole over. so I had to remove the worms and feeder before the birds had a chance to get to the feeder. I don’t think they were out at all, as I did not see any birds in my front or back yard all day.
Enough rambling. – Enjoy the nice weather before it gets too cold.
David
Stafford, VASorry to hear the bluebirds are not coming back Carol. I have been surprised at my feeder. I have more birds than we fledged this year. I am glad I have my mealworm farm going as I have to put out extra worms for around 9 to 12 blues. I know at least 4 are from 3 or 4 house west of us as I see them coming when I put out the worms. Maybe yours are just enjoying the warm weather or they might be taking a vacation south this year.
Phillie… nice photo of that hawk and good job on your trapping effort.
David
Stafford, VAHi Carol. Right now, I am sticking with my 7:30 – 8:00 AM and 5:00 – 5:30 PM schedule. It is interesting that if mom or dad bird wants to feed – the young exit the feeder until they finish. As the weather cools down I will probably add a noon time feeding. My wife noticed 8 – 10 bluebirds around the feeder and on the shepherd’s hook this morning around 9:00. I’m not sure if that is a request for more worms or a bigger feeder or both.:)
I was thinking about letting the existing beetles die off and go a couple months without eggs over the winter, but with that many birds out here, I might have to keep it going into the spring.David
Stafford, VAThat last photo was just the beginning of a new “adventure.” Those tiny little mealworms developed into over 5000 in 2 hatches thus far (I only counted 2000 and estimated the rest.) I have 2 drawers of small ones like these that I figure will be a similar number to what I have already. I have refrigerated about 2000 from that first batch and will put another 2000 back for the winter. I am also going to increase my numbers of worms in the dish as the blues have attracted a few more young blues. I am not sure if this is the first brood that hatched but there are more that 4 young ones in the groups that come down to feed.
David
Stafford, VAIt is good to hear about reducing the HOSP numbers. Good work phillyblues and Carol
David
Stafford, VACarol and Julie. It is good to hear about your fledglings and HOSP adventures. I had similar trouble with the remnants of “Laura” a few days ago with the heavy rain and winds. I have only seen 3 of the 4 of our last brood lately. Julie, I am impressed with your HOSP trapping. That makes a dent in the population. I have not seen any thing but Bluebirds at my mealworm feeder. Maybe they are used to the open feeders. The Goldfinches are the most prevalent birds at the feeder now.
I do have two drawers of hatched mealworms. I know there are a lot (no count yet) as I see lots of “shedding” from the molting of the young worms in the drawers. They will be ready for feeding for the late fall and winter. I will store the pupae in the refrigerator until January for next season.
I did clean out the next box and closed it up until winter for roosting during the cold nights.
It has been a relatively good year. I hope we can enjoy the rest of this crazy year and look forward to another season of Bluebirds in 2021.
David
Stafford, VA
