Blue Bird Houses May Not be Enough

Silly me! I seriously thought that by placing blue bird houses in the yard the sweet birds would just appear and decide to take up residence. Not the case though. After some time, the bluebird feeder was introduced with offerings that weren’t too enticing to bluebirds. Suet crumbles, bluebird banquet, roasted mealworms, and a host of other foods claiming to be” their favorite” were not attracting bluebirds to the yard.

Then after biting the bullet so to speak, live meal worms were offered and it worked…in fact, it worked great! I noticed in the dead of winter there were eastern bluebirds in my yard…everyday! There’s a heated bird bath in the back, and they frequented it daily. Now added to the list of chores was feeding the worms everyday, but it was just so rewarding to watch these sweet little birds chowing down!

When it started to warm up, the bluebirds were busy building a nest of pine needles in one of blue bird houses. In and out for a few days, the nest was completed quickly. I watched the process over the next few weeks, afraid to even open the house and peek inside. The parents dutifully fed the chicks mealworms over the next few days. Feeder to house, house to feeder, I watched in delight.

Fledglings! Three healthy bluebird chicks learned to fly. I watched as they’d follow their parents over to the meal worm feeder, land on top and scream for food. After a few days they learned to enter and exit the openings to get their own worms. This was very cool to witness, and I would suggest to anyone with the least bit of interest in Bluebirds to try it and see!