Martins teach Bluebird to eat scrambled egg!

[Mary Dawnsong]

It's low 40's, damp and windy here.

I've had scrambled eggs in the Bed & Breakfast platform feeder all day.
Many of the approximately 60 martins here have been eating eggs.
Robins, Blue Jays, Brewers Blackbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Grackles eat it from the martins' feeder, too.

For the first time ever, I just saw my male Bluebird eat egg. He was perched on the B&B next to an ASY male martin, watched the martin eat egg, then helped himself.

In past seasons a male Bluebird has eaten crickets from the feeder, but this is the first time I've seen a BB eat egg. I'm thrilled, of course!

Has anyone else seen BBs eat scrambled egg?

[Guest]

Mary,

I will definitely have to try that! We go broke buying meal worms to keep our bluebirds fed. We feed them all year round and they come to the feeder twice a day for their meals.

We have tried raisins, crushed peanuts, peanut butter snacks, and a variety of other things with no luck. I have read about others that feed the items listed above, and I have a brother that feeds his bluebirds shredded cheddar cheese (yes, you read that right ). Ours blues stubbornly hold out for their meal worms. We order 5,000 or more worms at a time and it gets expensive.

It looks like you'll be cooking for the martins for the next several days. They are predicting temps down to 30 tonight and cold weather in general through the weekend. We'll have to cover plants tonight as well.

Thanks for the idea.

Jeff Nelson

[Sugarfoot]

I've been feeding my Bluebird's scrambled eggs for the last 3 or 4 years.
They even take them to feed their newborns.

[Mary Dawnsong]

Hi Jeff,

Say.... cheese?

Please say Hi to Cathy for me.

Not sure what it takes to get BBs to eat eggs without "trainer" birds.

Best of luck adding cavity nesting species this season!

My best, Mary

Hi Sugarfoot,

Thanks for the info and the photo!

The male Bluebird here definitely likes eggs, I caught him eating them again this afternoon.
The bird world would be blissful here if his mate would reappear.
I last saw her Friday after about a week of incubating eggs.
He still defends his nest with 5 perfect eggs, but she seems gone for good.

My best, Mary

[Guest]

Mary,

Cathy says "hello". We're hoping to get the opportunity to see you (and all the other Michigan martineers) again this summer.

It is not unusual for the bluebird nest to appear abandoned until all of the eggs have been laid, at which time the female will begin setting. Unless something drastic or fatal happened to the female I can't imagine that she would just take of. Hopefully she will show up and begin setting very soon.

We have lots of bluebird nests along our bluebird trail right now and eggs have begun hatching in some. It looks like it will be a very good bluebird year. We have never heard as many blues singing in the predawn dark when we walk the trail before leaving for work.

While tree swallows have shown up, we are not seeing as many nesting in bluebird boxes as we have in previous years. I'm not sure if they are just taking their time this year before nesting or what.... We also have surrendered one gourd rack to them near the martin houses so that they will hopefully be less aggressive about nesting in the martins houses. It seems to work as they return each spring and immediately take possession of the gourds - I don't think that tree swallows are a factor in our not having martins.

Jeff

[Guest]

I am soooooooo envious that you all are able to successfully take advantage of supplemental feeding from trays. I have tried this numerous times and the seagulls clear the tray within minutes and they catch on too quickly to flinging crickets. My only option is placing crickets inside the housing.

The drought is placing quite a strain on our martins in South Texas.

Keep up the good work!

Sue
City by the Sea, TX

[Mary Dawnsong]

Hi Sue,

I know about gulls! You have my sympathy.

A year ago we had a long, severe snowstorm in late April and the Herring Gulls started eating the egg from the feeder. Only time I've had trouble with gulls, but that was enough for me!

I believe it would be possible to surround a feeder with 2" X 4" wire mesh/hardware cloth that would allow martins in but keep gulls out.
The idea would be similar to homemade owl guards some folks have built for martin houses and even entire gourd racks.
I've thought of doing it at my site so that feeding martins are protected from hawk attack.

Click on:
http://purplemartin.org/forumarchives/a ... guards.htm

My best, Mary

[Guest]

Interesting....never thought of that....I will give it a try!!! Thanks!

Sue
City by the Sea, TX