New Food for the Wrens

Update on the wren nest.  We don't have any updates on the wren nest outside our bathroom window.  After the frantic activity to build the nest, things suddenly went very quiet.  It is rare that we see the wrens going in and out of the house, but we do see them.  We also see them occasionally at the feeders in the backyard.  Since we still see them around, we feel confident they are still working on hatching a brood of new little wrens.  Apparently they have not yet hatched.

A new food--mealworms.  It had been suggested to us that since wrens are insect eaters we should consider offering them mealworms, at least while they are raising their young. 

Close up of mealworms from Wikipedia

Mealworms are not actually worms, but are larvae of the mealworm beetle. Although they seem kind of gross at first, they are at least dry, not slimy.

Mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, by Didier Descouens (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Mealworms, although not a complete balanced diet, turn out to be an excellent source of protein.  They are supposedly also edible by humans, but I think I will pass.  

Off we went to Wild Birds Unlimited for mealworms and a feeder, something with steep slippery sides to keep them from crawling out.  The mealworms came in a small plastic container with holes in the top to let in air.  They are to be kept in the refrigerator to keep them from progressing through their larval stages into the pupa stage.  We only want "worms", not beetles.  We only hope our refrigerator is not TOO cold.

There were supposedly 500 mealworms in the container, along with some type of dry meal.  A half teaspoon or so of this mixture is to be spooned into the feeder.  If any mealworms are left in the feeder after 24 hours, we were told to add a few raisins or half a grape as a source of food and moisture for the "worms".

As with all new items offered to the birds, we did not know if or when they would find them.  There is a lot of information on the web about birds and mealworms.  We specifically had the wrens in mind, but other insect eating birds that use our feeders include chickadees and titmice.  Hopefully one or more of these birds would find the new feeder.  Other birds such as robins and mockingbirds love mealworms, but would not likely find them in our yard since we had never offered them anything they like (other than water in the water bowls on the patio) and are hence not around the feeders.

We set everything up and waited.   Shown below is the result.