Hallo everyone, I am new to the forum and I am writing from Italy.
I have great tits, robins and blackbirds coming to my balcony.
I have suet balls and pine nuts for the great tits. But I am particularly fond of the robins and I searched the Internet and bird forums to find out what their favourite food was. It turned out to be mealworms and I so bought them online.
The thing that puzzles me is that, while the blackbirds gorge on the worms, the robins just ignore them and eat the pine nuts from the feeder
They seem to behave just like the great tits. I was staggered to see a robin land with his feet on the plate of mealworms and then hop off to pick up a pine nut .
I was wondering if someone can help me figure out why this happens.
I have a 5 l can of dried mealworms and all my robins seem to be vegetarian!
Paola
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Hi Paola, I've noticed that Robins are quite happy to take sunflower hearts from the feeder during winter. I'm sure if I had live mealworms they would go for them but I only usually provide them during the breeding season. As Catlady suggests try soaking the dried mealworms for a short while to see if that makes a difference. I often wonder about the nutritional value of dried mealworms given that it's only the outer husk that remains. Pine nuts may be more nutritious and provide more fat and essential oil which birds need in the winter.
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Hi Paola, live mealworms might prove more popular (with all the birds). You can buy live mealies online. https://www.livefoodsdirect.co.uk have excellent quality mealies and also wax worms. I put out live mealworms all year round. The House Sparrows love them. I tend to throw the mealies into the bushes and the ivy so that the birds have to do some foraging. My garden Robin sometimes takes the occasional sunflower heart and also goes for the mealies. He's also partial to wax worms. My Starlings will eat rehydrated mealworms, but prefer fat blocks at this time of year.
Unicum arbustum haud alit duos erithacos
(One bush does not shelter two Robins)
Zenodotus (3rd Century B.C.)
Kind regards, Ann