To make friends with bluebirds, I use mealworms. The time to do it is when they’re nesting and feeding young.
I put live mealworms in a bowl on a table close to where I sit. In this slow-motion video, you can see a bluebird pause and hover. He decides that I’m OK, and then he lands. He wants the mealworms in that bowl. For his babies.
In their birdhouse, he and his mate have a family that needs dozens of meals each day. Once the eggs hatch, the parents are fully engaged in finding caterpillars and other creatures for their rapidly growing offspring.
It’s constant work, from dawn to dusk, searching out insects in the grass and among the leaves. So a dish of mealworms is a real jackpot. It powerfully motivates the parent birds, and it’s my opportunity to earn their trust.
I try to keep a supply of live mealworms on hand all summer.
I move the bowl of mealworms a little closer every day. Some summers, the bluebirds get so used to me that they will land on my foot or even take mealworms from my hand.
Ah, the gentle prickle of those tiny talons on my toes is the stuff of heaven.
One year Michael wanted a picture showing this interspecies friendship. Note the field guide is open to the Eastern Bluebird page.
I love seeing the white clover in your toe picture. You’re taking care of pollinators as well.
Love your posts Diane! Watch patience you have to hold mealworms until the birds come! Are those live mealworms not dried?
If I may, as an entomologist, correct your comment about the life cycle of the mealworm. They do have 4 life stages - egg, larva, pupa, and adult. A mealworm is the larval stage of a darkling beetle, Tenebrio molitor - commonly called the yellow mealworm. These beetles are known as stored grain pests introduced to North America in early 1800's. Since they readily eat grain, they are easy to rear for pet industry as food for reptiles and amphibians.