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Sorry 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, VAhere is a photo of a couple of baby mealworm larva. That is the tip of a mechanical pencil and a carrot slice on the right side. These are about 10 days old. Very small now but will grow to feeding size in about 30 days.
David
Stafford, VAWatching the fledglings learn to use the feeder themselves is fun. Great news Judy.
David
Stafford, VACongratulations Carol Good luck with the rest of their maturing. I had the opposite size with my last batch of worms. Mine are small. (had to get a supply from WBU as Grubco could not ship due to the heat.) My blues do not seem to like the smaller worms as they leave about half of the feeding (50 + or -) in the bowl. I have reduced the number that I take out to 30 and that seems to be okay. I don’t know whether it is the heat or the size of the worms that is causing the change.
David
Stafford, VAThanks Judy. I left the mealworms. It is still raining and I don’t feel like getting them. I will watch tomorrow to see if they return to the mealworm feeder like they did with the last group of fledglings.
David
Stafford, VAWell, the 4 blues fledged either late yesterday evening or early this morning. I took some mealworms out for the evening feeding and did not see either the parents or any of the young. It was raining and the wind was blowing so I decided to see if they were still around – but found the nest box empty. The were feeding yesterday during the day but I never say any of the 4 come out of the nest. I will clean the nestbox tomorrow -after this much needed rain, and see if they return for a third sitting.
David
Stafford, VAGlad to hear everyone is “making it” through this extremely hot weather. I am concerned like you, Donna about a 3rd nest. My 4 young are due to fledge on Wednesday. I just checked the weather forecast for our area (Stafford, VA) and it shows 92-100 degree temperatures everyday thru August and into mid September. That was as far as the calendar went, so I am sure there are more hot days to follow. It is so bad that Grubco is holding my mealworm order due to the heat. I may have to go the the Bird store soon for a temporary fix.
Stay cool!!!David
Stafford, VA
