SCOTT SHALAWAY Live food attracts more birds

Activity at bird feeders usually drops off a bit in June. I still have many finches, which eat seeds almost exclusively and even feed their nestlings regurgitated seeds, and a handful of woodpeckers, chickadees, cardinals, towhees, blue jays, titmice, and nuthatches. But total numbers are down from early spring. That's because during the breeding season birds are territorial; pairs spread themselves out by occupying defended areas. Social flocks form again in late summer and fall.
Birds also visit feeders less in the spring and summer because they love live food. Rapidly growing nestlings require the high protein diet insects and other invertebrates provide. And adults eat insects, in part, simply because they're so abundant.
Seasonal shift
Take advantage of this seasonal shift in diet by offering a daily handful of live food -- mealworms, the larval stage harmless darkling beetles -- in a shallow tray. Woodpeckers, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, and even cardinals love them. And many birds that don't eat seeds come to feeders stocked with mealworms. Bluebirds, catbirds, mockingbirds, robins, wrens, warblers, and vireos are among my warm weather feeder birds. Last week I watched a male robin stuff its bill with 17 mealworms, presumably for a nest full of hungry chicks.
Mealworms are grown commercially for pet and bait shops, but they're expensive. Two dollars buys a few dozen. Mail order sources such as JennaBird (www.jenna bird.com; (800) 500-BIRD) are more economical -- 5,000 Jennabird mealworms for $27.00 ppd.
If that's still beyond your budget, raise your own mealworms. It's easy and cheap. All you need is a large plastic container (a sweater box works well) with a lid, a supply of wheat bran for food, several brown paper bags, and an apple. If you can't find wheat bran, bran breakfast cereal, rolled oats, or corn meal will suffice. Or you can mix and match the grains.
Add about three inches of bran to the container. This is the mealworm food. For moisture, slice an apple in half and push each half, peel side down, into the bran until the cut face is level with the top of the bran. Add about 50 mealworms for each square foot of container. Now cover the entire culture with several layers of brown paper. The mealworms will move about the layers of paper when not feeding.
Drill holes
Before putting the lid on the container, drill a grid of quarter-inch holes spaced about 2 inches apart. If condensation forms inside the lid, drill more holes. Both the mealworms and their food must be kept dry. Store the culture at room temperature.
Within a few weeks, some of the mealworms will begin to pupate. The pupae are fleshy, light colored and will ultimately transform into adult darkling beetles. The adults will mate, and the females will lay eggs in the bran. Then the adults die. When the eggs hatch, the mealworm life cycle starts anew.
Check the culture every few days. When the apple is eaten, replace it. And every three months, clean the container and renew the culture. If you detect an unpleasant odor in the container, it's time to clean it. A healthy mealworm culture has little or no odor.
For a virtually limitless supply of mealworms, start several cultures at monthly intervals. Each square foot of culture should yield more than 1,000 mealworms each cycle.
Though most birds relish live food, it is not an essential part of a warm weather feeding station. There are plenty of insects in our back yards.
sshalaway @aol.com.