Mealworms...the Other Bird Food
Mealworms? Eeeeoooo! Now, don’t get squeamish, these are smooth, hard-skinned worms that are not slimy and, besides, insect eating birds love them!
Actually, mealworms are the larvae of the darkling beetle (Tenebrio molitar). To prevent the larvae from pupating and becoming beetles, keep mealworms in the refrigerator or in an unheated garage or basement as long as the temperature is between 40° and 50°. Store them in a smooth-sided, covered, ventilated container with wheat bran, oats or cornmeal. Mealworms are available at Wild About Birds in 100 and 500 count containers ($1.99, $6.99).
Mealworms can be offered to backyard birds, year round, as long as the temperature is above the freezing mark, 32°. Place them in a small smooth-sided container (catfood can, tuna can, margarine tub, etc.) inside a bluebird feeder ($26.99) or thumbtack your small container directly to a deck rail, fence post or bluebird box. Droll Yankee makes a plastic, dish-style feeder with a dome (X-1 Seed Saver, $24.99) that is ideal for feeding mealworms to the birds.
Most folks think mealworms are just for bluebird feeding. Not so! Most insect eating birds will be attracted to your mealworm feeder all year – mockingbirds, robins, brown thrashers, chickadees, woodpeckers. Everyday, several Carolina wrens visit the mealworm feeder I have on my deck rail.
So, although we traditionally think about feeding mealworms only to nesting bluebirds, why not treat the insect eating birds in your backyard this winter with an offering of mealworms, a new and different bird food!