Country home

Country home opens door to feeding time

From Patsy Mellon, member from Davey

Oh what a year we have had! We built our home on the acreage we’ve owned for 12 years. I’m finally out in the country with my bluebirds. What a joy.

It’s fun watching them each day. Ron put up a pair of boxes a few feet from our deck and bedroom window. We quickly had a pair nesting and I thought I’d get to see the babies fledge but somehow I missed it. What a disappointment.

How sad it is to know the bluebird season is over. I wondered to myself how I am going to make it till next spring without them. Then I decided to order mealworms and feed the bluebirds.

That starts my story. I called the number from the last newsletter and ordered one thousand large mealworms. My bluebirds will be hungry with winter coming.

Saturday of the same week I was planting shrubs and flowers in front of my new country home and down the driveway came the mail person. She introduced herself and handed me a box labeled “Live worms.” She laughed and asked what I was doing with live worms. I explained the boxes scattered about the property and my love of the bluebirds. As she drove off, she wished me good luck. I was going to need it because I had no idea what to do next with the worms.

I called Cheryl Eno and Kenny Hanneman, two people I know feed bluebirds, to find out what to do next. I was told to get a box and some oatmeal, put the worms inside and I was ready to go.

The next morning I put a few mealworms in a little white dish on top of the platform feeder. By golly, it wasn’t long before a female bluebird came to check out the dish. Wow! This is great, I thought. For a couple of days, she came back alone but by the fourth day, her mate came with her.

Every morning I put the mealworms out and sit by the window. It’s fun watching the pair come every morning to feed. She’s quite the lady, or should I say he’s chauvinistic, because he eats first then flies away when it’s her turn to eat. At first it was three worms a piece but now they are up to 6-8 worms each. I wonder if they’ll eat more when it gets colder? I feel guilty because they look at me when the dish is empty, but I’m afraid I’ll run out of worms if I put them out all day and there will be days I won’t be home.

Today they came and he wouldn’t eat so she patiently waited but once she moved towards the dish he chased her back. But he still wouldn’t eat or leave. Finally, he flew to a tree and the female started to eat but noticed another female bluebird had flown to the same tree. That did it, she left the feeder and chased the other female away. She stayed by her mate’s side for quite a while. What an attitude he had today. I’m anxious to see what tomorrow brings.

Oh, the joy of living in the country.