Breakfast Anyone?

red-bellied with meal worms photo by Adrienne in OHio


I've been lining the deck railing with mealworms every morning for months now. And each day I have to chuckle a little at the girl who wouldn't touch a worm--the one was content to go fishing with her dad in a boat as long as he did all the "dirty work." I keep them in the fridge, so they don't move around a whole lot. One morning, though, I set the container out on the counter and was interrupted by the phone. When I took them outside a few minutes later, they were very wiggly and determined to cling to my thumb rather than drop onto the railing. A girl can only take so much, so back into the fridge they went for half an hour to chill out.

Over the winter, it was the Carolina wrens that waited for me to put out the worms. Now, though, several different birds are waiting for them (including the blue jays which are a bit piggy about it if you ask me). Above is a photo of my favorite woodpecker, the red-bellied male I posted about yesterday. I enjoy watching him eat the worms as he positions them "long-ways" in his beak and swallows them whole. But lately, he's only been eating one or two, then cramming as many as he can into his long beak. How many do you see?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Well, I think I see four. I never had your luck with these. I got some dried ones in the winter and they disappeared but the only way was to mix them with other seed. Something happened to them. I guess I need to live ones.

This is a fabulous picture and the Happy Birthday one is too.

Thanks for your visit to My Birds Blog
Hi Adrienne, It's good to hear from you again. It's been awhile. I have yet to decide to buy mealworms... Tell me where you got them--and how you stored them please. I have Bluebirds who would love them--but until now, I've been chicken to buy them.. As you can tell, I'm not a worm person at all... Convince me please.. (You can email me at betsyadams@mac.com.)

Love your Red-bellied.. We have them too. I call the male, Pete. ha

Thanks.
Hugs,
Betsy
Shelley said…
This was such a cute picture of the red bellied w/ all these mealworms stuffed in his mouth! I tried some dried mealworms but no luck, I have to pick up some LIVE ones this week!
Adrienne Zwart said…
I've never tried the dried variety, but I've had great success with the live ones. I buy them from our local bird/nature store in Hartville. You may have to call around a bit to find them. They come in a deli-sized container that is about half full of quick oats and has a lid with tiny airholes. You just store them in the refrigerator, which keeps them alive, but very sluggish.

When you first try it, just put a few out near the feeder or on top of a bluebird house. (That's how I lured bluebirds at our last house.) You have to dispose of them after 24 hours, but I only ever have to do that in the winter. Right now I could probably put the entire contents of the container out every day and it would be gone in 20 minutes.
Carol said…
do you raise the mealworms yourself? I did for my Lady Gouldians, but didnt think about putting any out for the wild ones.

www.wildlifearoundus.blogspot.com
Deejbrown said…
I tried mealworms and the birds seemed afraid of them. Left them on the deck railing to dry up.
Cathy said…
I love the picture until you told what was in his mouth!! I hadn't noticed that until I read you post. Yuck!!! But I know he loves it!
SaraG said…
AWESOME photo. I just love all your photo's!!
Take care
Unknown said…
Worms scare me. I love your favorite little bird : ). How pretty is he?
That's an awesome shot Adrienne! So much detail.

Popular Posts