• Bird Feeders,  Fruit Bird Feeder,  Fruit, Jelly & Mealworm Feeders,  Live Meal Worms,  Mealworm Feeder,  Uncategorized

    live worms escaping your mealworm feeder?

    an open dish mealworm feeder accommodates a variety of treats for wild birdsA customer’s question grabbed our attention: “How do you keep the worms inside the mealworm feeder?”

    Tooth, texture… that’s what it’s all about here. If the surface of the feeder is not smooth as glass, the wiggly, crawly delights get hold and simply crawl right out! Now this is a huge advantage to ground feeding birds like robins – ours actually sit and wait below the mealworm feeder. But for bluebirds, chickadees, nuthatches, warblers, swallows and titmice, they have to swoop down to catch their worms if they’ve all crawled out.

    So what’s the point of using a hanging dish feeder if worms end up on the ground? Not much! If you’re feeding live worms, it’s best to use a feeder that has absolutely no texture on the inside surface. Worms will stay put longer, and while juveniles are learning to use feeders, this is helpful.

    An open dish type feeder will also accommodate a good variety of other treats to entice wild birds. Oranges used in this double-dish model have orioles flocking and teaching babies where the good stuff is! Suet chunks and peanuts are also good options for winter feeding.

    Smooth, plexi-glass meal worm feeders like this are available in staked, hanging and even pole-mounted options. They’re durable for year-round use and dishwasher safe. Birds can perch anywhere on the dish – making it easier to land and feed. The vertical hangers are long enough to use with a weather guard, or even a baffle should squirrels be a problem around your place.

    If you’re on the squeamish side and can’t bear the thought of live worms, birds will also go for dried worms. In fact they pack more protein per serving! Consider a dish style mealworm feeder this season… they work great for more than just worms!

     

  • Bird Feeders,  Bluebird Feeders,  Live Meal Worms,  Mealworm Feeder,  Uncategorized

    new guests at the mealworm feeder

    Red Bellied Woodpecker at the mealworm feederKiller photo… thanks David for letting us use it for this post. A red bellied woodpecker spears a snack of worms with that long tongue!

    The conversation centered around this photo had nothing to with mealworm feeders, but rather birds’ tongues. Yup, of all bird species, it’s only the woodpecker and hummingbird who can actually stick out their tongue! And the limited range of movement is straight forward at that.

    Box, dish, tray, cup, cage, staked, hanging, pole-mount and so on… there all kinds of feeders for offering mealworms. Live worms may find escape from open feeders, but it’s not the only reason the box or cage styles are popular. Just about every bird around will eat your worms (and pretty darn fast), so if the intention is feeding bluebirds… enclosed models are basically referred to as bluebird feeders, and they may be hung, pole-, or post-mounted.

    This kind of mealworm feeder keeps most birds out, as very few will actually enter a box to retrieve food. The entry/exit is sized the same as that of a bluebird house, although chickadees, carolina wrens and nuthatches will use these feeders if/when live worms are discovered!

    In our quest for bluebirds several years ago, housing and fresh water didn’t seem like enough. Up went the mealworm feeder, with every kind of bluebird food out there! It wasn’t until live worms became available on a daily basis the blues finally stuck around. Since then, a Gilbertson nest box and a another NABS approved wooden house have hosted many successful broods over the years. It takes an open habitat, with good perches for hunting insects. As for the hawks who nest nearby in the woods… we could all do without them 🙁 By the way, three woodpecker species totally ignore both open-dish mealworm feeders in our yard, preferring suet and nuts over live worms. Just one of the many reasons we found this photo so very cool!

     

     

  • Bird Feeders,  Fruit, Jelly & Mealworm Feeders,  Mealworm Feeder,  Uncategorized

    Master of Mimicry~A Cool Video from The Cornell Lab

    Catbird Mimicry~My Catbirds stealing worms from the mealworm feeder

     

    An extremely cool video from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, one special catbird in California (which is rare in itself) puts on an extreme show. Known as a master of mimicry, over twenty calls are recorded, side by side with the originator…. even a frog!

    Pretty common in our parts during summer months, we had several resident catbirds hanging around the yard this season. Digging into suet and a jelly feeder–until the yellow jackets showed up, they then opted for worms meant for bluebirds! Crafty & smart, they’d wait and watch until the open dish melworm feeder came alive once again.

    Actually it became obnoxious, as the worms were for the baby bluebirds! But there were breeding pairs nearby and catbird fledges were soon at the feeder too. It sure was a busy season, likely because of diminished food sources and the horrid drought. Two leaf misters ran daily, and nine birdbaths were maintained!  It was great having catbirds around, but good to see them move on as well.

    Check out the short video below for some excellent catbird knowledge!