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Lexi, thanks! It is fascinating behavior, isn’t it. Hoping your blues show up soon in your boxes (and not many hosps!). Carol, yes that is a new Gilwood I purchased from Fred last fall. Good luck with your modified Gilwood. Hoping it’s a great season for all!
Carolyn
New HampshireLexi, those are gorgeous photos!! What a great idea for using the leftover wreaths, thanks for sharing! Sounds like you have quite the of food offerings for them. And I’m guessing we’re probably using the same no-melt peanut suet.
As for the nesting boxes, it’s funny because we put up 3: I put pine shavings in two of them and pine needles in the third. For no reason, other than I had read that all were suitable for winter roosting (if any birds were interested in the boxes for that purpose – we also have up several roosting boxes, but the birds don’t use them.). The box with the pine needles was/is used occasionally by a downy woodpecker this winter. The bb’s chose one of the nesting boxes with the pine shavings, most likely because of it’s prime location. I can’t lie, I did really enjoy watching the bb’s work throughout the fall and winter on removing the pine shavings. They showed up every morning like clockwork to do their renovating. :) Now that the renovations are done (they removed it all), I don’t see them quite as much, but they do check-in routinely as expected. I had gathered up a lot of pine needles last fall and placed them on the ground around the chosen nest box, and they did pull a few in on top of the pine shavings! Next year, I will definitely use pine needles in the box they have clearly chosen as their preference. Photo of the male removing some of the pine shavings:
<script async src=”//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>Carolyn
New HampshireCarol, I’m guessing the recipe you gave is the same one that I referred to as the “beloved homemade suet recipe” that I have seen on other sites over the past few years. I use no-melt suet cakes which make it possible for me to use them year-round with great success and no concerns with melting in the summer.
Carolyn
New HampshireHi Tammy, I know there is a beloved homemade suet recipe, but I’ve been buying suet cakes and crumbling them with great success. In addition to the bluebirds, there are a lot of other species that seem to like it crumbled up for them (eg: woodpeckers, flickers, jays, titmice, carolina wren, chickadees, nuthatches, etc). As for the mealworms, I’ve really been thinking about this one. The bluebirds that feed at our feeders nested at the neighbors house last year (we didn’t have any nesting boxes) and successfully fledged 2 broods which addressed my concern about calcium depletion from the dried mealworms I feed them over the winter. I also find that on nice days like today, they don’t eat much here at all so are finding food elsewhere even as winter is waning. I’m really glad to have chimed in on this board; this has been an enlightening and thought-provoking thread. I hope you also have great luck with the dried mealworms if you decide to go that route, Tammy. And I also hope you might be onto something about dried vs live with regard to the calcium issue.
Carolyn
New HampshireA thought to add to Gin and Carol’s caution to not over-feed meal worms. I had read that warning a number of years ago and have since always offered mealworms alongside crumbled-up suet. The first year that I did feeding, I had suet cakes in hangers which the then-rare bluebird ate a small amount of; I didn’t offer mealworms at that time. I researched online and found a suggestion to crumble the suet for them, and have done that ever since with great success. I do a lot of observing of them as the feeder area is easily viewed from my living room window and I have found that the bluebirds seem to self-regulate themselves between the suet and the mealworms. That observation is reinforced when re-filling the feeders as one day I’ll need to re-fill more of the suet; the next day it might be the mealworms. I just spent about 15 minutes now watching them and they were going for the suet over the mealworms. Additionally, we have many bushes with winter berries on them that they also eat as their mood strikes them. I do very much heed to the over-feeding of mealworms, but I’m wondering if my own observations of them self-regulating, as long as the human provides variety, holds true.Of course that may be the case only when using dried mealworms as I understand from all who have commented on these boards and elsewhere that they go completely bonkers over live mealworms!
Carolyn
New HampshireMore excellent feedback, thanks! I didn’t know that earthworms weren’t fed to nestlings. Never having had a nesting box before, there is much to be learned. Thank you!
Carolyn
New HampshireThat is really good advice, thank you!! The only reason I was considering the switch was for any potential nestlings – thinking the live ones might be a tad healthier for them? But if it’s even close to being a draw, then I will definitely stick to dried as they chow them down heavily and I wouldn’t want to ruin that. We do have a lot of earthworms in the grass, so maybe that will suffice. Thanks so much for the input (I wasn’t relishing handling live ones… ;)
Carolyn
New HampshireThanks, Tammy. I haven’t tried live mealworms yet, but plan to this year as we have put up our first nesting box (one of Fred’s). The bb’s have been “working” on it all winter long. They clearly didn’t appreciate the 1″ of pine shavings I put in the bottom to keep them warm in the event they used it for roosting. Took them quite awhile, but they finally removed all of it – ha! I’ll be watching the board for suggestions on feeding live mealworms. Thanks!
Carolyn
New HampshireI’ve been feeding crumbled suet and mealworms for several years with great luck. Zero luck with any other types of seeds, fruits, etc. I keep crumbled suet on the “main floor” of this feeder with mealworms in the upper “loft” trays that two of the bluebirds are on.
<script async src=”//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>Carolyn
New HampshireThank you, Cher, looking forward to things picking up. In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!🎄🎄🎄
Carolyn
New HampshireHi! I’ve been a “bluebird nut” for three years now. We feed ¾ of the year and feel positively lucky that the bluebirds are here a lot eating. We put up roosting boxes last year, but no takers despite the extremely tough winter we had here in New England. This fall we put up three nesting boxes of different designs and are delighted that the bb’s are in and out of them daily, so hopefully that bodes well for residency next spring! So glad to have found this board; thank you!
Carolyn
New Hampshire
