Feeding Robins on Easter

[MineralMan]

It's been pretty dry around Minnesota, except for some rain a few days ago. I saw several Robins hopping around the yards in the neighborhood, but didn't see them picking up anything. So, a light bulb went off in my head and, after the bleeding stopped, I had an idea.

I keep a patch of tilled earth in my backyard. Whenever I need worms for taking kids fishing, I put the hose on the patch and flood it. Out come the worms. So, this Easter Sunday, I was out starting the outboard motor on my boat for the first time this season, and I noticed the bare earth in that patch.

So, I turned the hose on it and flooded it. Sure enough, up came the worms...dozens of them. I removed the hose and, before I could get back to the job at hand, there was a pair of robins on the patch, happily gobbling up the little squirmy invertebrates.

Sometimes, a guy has to lend nature a hand...

[bigtree]

1. rec'ed

wonderful

[lunatica]

2. Here's a big wet kiss for you!

Giving life sustaining food on Resurrection day is so apt!

[MineralMan]

3. You don't even want to know how much I spend

each month on bird and squirrel food. It's quite shocking. Still, it's fun to have the squirrels and blue jays come to my hand for peanuts, and the suet block on our maple tree attracts a pileated woodpecker every spring and fall.

As with many charitable actions, there's a nice reward sometimes.

OTOH, there are dead worms because of me. :shrug:

[havocmom]

4. When one lives in the far north, feeding birds ans squirrel is good for mental health

Ya gotta take care of friends who stick with ya during the bad times ;)

[MineralMan]

5. So true.

[lunatica]

14. I used to make a kind of suet out of peanut butter mixed with wild bird seeds

They fucking love the stuff! And no critters are killed! And none of it goes to waste either. Birds can hop on it but can't scatter the seeds and it's a hoot watching the blue jays scoop it up like little bulldozers. I used to take a small heavy bowl and pack a pile of the mixture. The birds love it. They would make a morning and evening first and last run. And every Spring they brought their offspring to show them where to get some of their food.

[MineralMan]

17. For the past five years, a pair of mallards who nest over

at the little lake near my home have visited our yard twice a day to eat at the base of one of our bird feeders. Morning and evening, they fly over, land and scoop up the spilled seed, then fly off to the lake. During egg-sitting time, they take turns flying over.

It's the same two mallards each year. I recognize a distinctive marking on the male. What a treat!

[OnyxCollie]

19. Do you freeze it, or just put it out as is?

That's a good idea. I'll try it next year.

[lunatica]

25. No need to freeze it. You'll see. It gets eaten up very fast once they discover it

Just mix it all together. Peanut butter binds it all together and it provides protein.

[SPedigrees]

21. Actually suet is animal fat, so some critter was killed.

This is nice for seed eating birds, esp in winter when they need to keep up their reserves of fat, but robins, as far as I know, dine soley on earth worms.

[MineralMan]

23. I believe the poster was referring to a suet equivalent, not suet

itself. And, in reality, robins eat all sorts of things besides worms. Any thing that moves is food for robins, especially when their feeding their young. During our cold winters, many robins winter over in Minnesota. They eat a lot of crabapples and berries still hanging on the plants, and often eat the raisins I put out for the odd cardinals who stick around. They'll eat suet, too.

Here's the funniest bird food story I know of: I was visiting relatives in California, and they had many hummingbirds visiting their yard for the fuscias and other hummingbird-attracting plants in their yard. They had some feeders, too. We'll, I was out on the back porch, sipping a gin and tonic in the late afternoon, when I noticed a hummingbird hovering about two feet from my head, near a rose bush. I watched it hover there for 30 seconds or so, unconcerned about my presence. Then, I saw what it was doing. An orb-weaver spider had a neat little web between two branches of the rose bush. The hapless spider was sitting in the middle of the web, patiently waiting for the odd fly to become ensnared.

It was not to be. The hovering hummingbird swooped in, grabbed the fat spider, then flew off to her tiny nest. Baby hummingbirds eat insects and other living critters, I discovered. Who knew? As an aside, I also discovered that if I stood under one of the feeders and held a finger up near a feeder hole, the hummingbirds would land on my finger and sit there drinking the sweet juice. Hummingbirds are fearless.

[tavalon]

37. That's a really cool story

When I was living in the south, I always had Purple Martin Houses and feeders. I love Purple Martins. Around here the most plentiful bird seems to be the crow and when crows are mating you don't bird watch because they will dive bomb you. They are very, very territorial and they don't have any love for anyone they perceive as getting in their space.

[amborin]

31. great idea!

[amborin]

32. ps: migration is definitely started; saw two Hooded Orioles the other

day

if you remove the little plastic inner yellow flowerlets from the humming bird feeders openings, the Orioles can drink the nectar

we've been making our own: 1 part sugar to 4 parts water

[SPedigrees]

34. Peanut butter isn't suet, but it is rich in fat, like suet. nt

[lunatica]

35. I was trying to compare it to something like suet

So people would get the idea quickly. I didn't mean that it was suet. Peanut butter is also rich in protein. All types of nuts are.

[Bobbieo]

6. Someone should tell the Discovery Channel about you. Forget Sarah Palin and Alaska.

[MineralMan]

10. "MineralMan Feeds The Birds", eh?

Now that'd be compelling TV, for sure. :rofl:

[progressoid]

7. Worm murderer!

[MineralMan]

8. I have violated the Ahmisa principle; it is true.

But, there are many worms and the robins are preparing to raise their broods. It's always a compromise...always a compromise.

I'll be thanking Mr. Piggy later on today as I eat part of his leg, too. There it is, I suppose.

[progressoid]

18. I will be violating it later today as well.

Mmmmmmutton

[MineralMan]

20. I suggested Easter Bunny Stew, but

my wife unsuggested that idea. Oh, well.

[SPedigrees]

22. Don't worry, earth worms are in no danger of extinction

despite being dined on underground by moles, and above ground by birds. They are hermaphroditic and can reproduce individually as well as with another worm.

[MineralMan]

24. I count on that, since I often take the kids of my wife's relatives

out fishing. I don't fish with live bait much, but children need to catch fish RIGHT NOW!, not just sit in a boat, as I am quite content to do. Garden worms are the perfect bait for the panfish in the lakes around here, and I can absolutely guarantee that I can put kids on fish and let them catch as many as they want, until they weary of the fun.

My little tilled patch of earth can always be counted on to yield a few dozen worms, no matter how often I flood it.

[bobburgster]

9. If I was a republican....

I'd say you're heading towards socialism.

[MineralMan]

11. That's the goal. Truly, it is...

[jwirr]

12. We put up another bird house and filled the feeders, uncovered the

roses and thought about the strawberries. Hopefully this spring like weather will hold. Rhubarb is up.

[MineralMan]

15. Yes! The simple pleasures of Minnesota living.

The other day, while visiting my MiL, four deer walked by on the lawn of her condo building. The wood ducks are checking nest boxes there, too. Right in the middle of the city. Nature abounds here. I saw a red fox cross the road last week near the little lake near my home, and the muskrats are busily swimming.

[OnyxCollie]

13. I slathered some peanut butter on an ear of corn

for the squirrel. He's sitting on the branch, eating it as I type.

[lunatica]

16. You can do something similar for birds. See my response # 14

[IDemo]

26. We have a menagerie in the yard

There are feeders in the front and back yard, and a squirrel feeder on the tree outside the kitchen window. We get ducks, quail, dove, finches, sparrows, and an occasion flicker (woodpecker). The squirrel flings the plastic tray out of the feeder on the ground when it's empty, apparently unhappy with the service.

[MineralMan]

27. Our squirrels jump up on the living room windowsill when

they're out of food and stare at us. When they do that, I can take my bag of peanuts in the shell out and make them come and take them, one at a time out of my hand. They're never completely sure I'm not going to grab them and eat them, but they come anyhow.

The blue jays will fly down out of the maple tree and land on my hand to take a peanut. A few times, when we've been out in the yard on lawn chairs, the jays have landed on my head, expecting a treat. Oddly enough, I always seem to have one in my pocket.

Getting squirrels and jays to eat from your hand is so easy that I can't imagine not doing it.

[IDemo]

28. Our squirrels peer into the kitchen window

It looks like they're thinking "There's a whole other world in there!"

[BlancheSplanchnik]

29. Awwww! Pics! Must have pics!

When Toadsies was with me, I'd collect up earhtworms after a rain. He loved 'em.

[amborin]

30. thanks for posting this!

[MineralMan]

33. My pleasure.

[Jamastiene]

36. That was nice of you.

I'm sure the robins appreciated it. The worms are probably in the robins' bellies cussing you, though. :rofl:

[Paper Roses]

38. I envy those of you with successful feeders. I tried.

Bought several feeders, thinking I'd attract something besides sparrows by the dozen.
Nope, nothing else, unless you count the pigeons that showed up and would sit of my roof and jabber until the feeder was refilled. Between those two birds, my hopes were dashed. Nothing else ever came. The two types just made a mess, scattered the food all over the ground and ate like they had never had any food in their lives.

I think my area must have too many people and cats. I donated the feeders, I hope the new owners have better success than I did.

[4_TN_TITANS]

39. Many people feed birds during the winter when food is scarce

but it is just as important in the spring time when the mommas are nesting and not able to forage much.