Birds like to eat different foods. They also like insects and worms. Mealworms are one of the most popular worms. Many birdwatchers have asked questions about what birds eat mealworms?
Most birds like to eat mealworms, including garden birds and wild birds. They like to consume mealworms, especially in the winter season. All these birds are discussed below with their mealworm-eating behavior.
Contents:
- What Kinds of Birds Eat Mealworms?
- Birds That Eat Mealworms
- How Do Birds Find Mealworms?
- What Birds Eat Dried Mealworms?
- How To Attract Birds With Mealworms?
- Why Are Birds Not Eating Mealworms?
- Do Pigeons Eat Mealworms?
- Do Blue Jays Eat Mealworms?
- Do Mockingbirds Eat Mealworms?
- Do Cardinals Eat Mealworms?
- Can Budgies Eat Mealworms?
- Can Cockatiels Eat Mealworms?
- Summary
What Kinds of Birds Eat Mealworms?
Many birds, including wild birds, and garden birds, eat mealworms. Some of these birds eat mealworms on a daily basis, while some feed twice or thrice times a week.
There are a lot of birds that can eat mealworms. Some of them are chickadees, titmice (birds), nuthatches, wrens, orioles, woodpeckers, warblers (some of them, for example, pine warblers), and robins.
All of these birds eat in the feeders present in the home, backyard, or garden. These birds also like to eat dried mealworms. Dried mealworms do not have any side effects on these birds.
Wild Birds That Eat Mealworms
Wild bird species that can eat mealworms are the American robin, occasional bluebird, chickadees, woodpeckers, cardinals, and nuthatches.
Garden Birds That Eat Mealworms
Those garden birds who can eat mealworms are bluebirds, thrashers, wrens, catbirds, towhees, and robins. All of them love to eat mealworms on a daily basis.
Birds That Eat Mealworms
Many garden birds and wild birds love to eat mealworms. Along with these birds, there are some other birds that can eat mealworms. The name of the eleven most popular birds who eat mealworms is under as along with their eating behavior.
Bluebirds
Bluebirds love to eat mealworms. They are fed with mealworms in almost every season, especially in bad weather.
In bad weather, the supply of insects is very short, and sometimes, fruit is also not available at that time, and mealworms come out naturally.
So, mealworms are ready-made and natural food for them. Mealworms are high in fat and high protein, which helps bluebirds in flying all day long.
The reason behind the love of bluebirds towards mealworms is their small size. So Bluebirds easily pick them in their beak and can eat them.
European Robins
After bluebirds, European robins are one of the popular birds that can eat mealworms. Robins enjoy eating mealworms. The reason behind the love of European robins towards mealworms is that they are natural ground feeders. Also, baby robins can eat mealworms to add value to their growth.
You can mix mealworms with fruits, seeds, or any other food that European robins like to eat. This mixing will enhance the flavor of their feed. Place food on a tray in a bird feeder, and wait for a while so then they will come and eat.
European mealworms can also eat dried mealworms. But, soak them in water before serving. It will increase the moisture of food, and the other reason is that they love to eat soaked dried mealworms.
Wrens
Wrens also love to eat mealworms. The best way to feed mealworms to wrens is by mixing them with some fruits, snacks, etc., or any other bird snack that wrens like to eat.
Then, please place them in a bird feeder or on the ground. Wrens will come there as soon as they see their favorite foods lying on the ground.
Blue Tit
Blue tit birds are the birds who love to have mealworms in their diet. Their food intake is similar in calories, and they eat insects, seeds, fruits, or mealworms.
They like to eat mixed insects and mealworms, and it is their favorite snack. Blue tit can eat mealworms two times a day.
Nuthatches
Not just bluebirds, blue tit, wrens, and European robins enjoy eating mealworms, and nuthatch also love to eat mealworms. Nuthatch can feed on both insects and mealworms.
You have to add mealworms to a shallow tray and then place them near the nuthatch. You can also put mealworms in a bird feeder for the nuthatch.
Thrush
Thrush birds also like to eat mealworms. You can serve them fresh mealworms coming out of the soil or can also feed them dried mealworms.
You can get mealworms from any pet shop for thrush birds. Thrush birds love juicy treats, soak dried mealworms in water overnight and then serve these soaked mealworms in the morning.
Great Tit (Parus major)
Great tit, also known as paras major, love to eat mealworms. Place mealworms on the ground, in a bird feeder, or on the bird table. When they see their favorite snack, they will go there to eat them.
Sometimes they pick up mealworms (one or two and then flew away. And sometimes they eat first and then get some mealworms with them.
Dunnock (Prunella modularis)
Dunnock is also known as prunella modularis, and they like to eat juicy insects such as mealworms. They love to eat mealworms and insects as they are ground-feeding birds.
Mealworms are easily available on the ground, especially in the rainy season. You can also feed them dried mealworms soaked in water.
After soaking, dried mealworms become juicier. Both live mealworms and soaked dried mealworms are a perfect summertime treat for dunnock.
Kinglets
Kinglets love to eat mealworms and can eat a lot of them at one time. Mealworms are the perfect diet for kinglets and have various benefits for them.
There is no restriction on feeding mealworms to kinglets, you can feed them as much as you want, and as much as they can eat. But do not overfeed because this is not good for any bird’s health.
Northern Mockingbirds
They are small birds, and some people think that because of their small size, they do not eat mealworms, but that is not true.
Northern mockingbirds do love eating mealworms. Mealworms are their favorite snack, and they can eat them in a considerable numbers.
Baltimore Orioles
In Baltimore oriole’s diet, mealworms are a great addition. Mealworms are full of nutrition which makes them a healthy snack for every bird. Baltimore oriole enjoys eating mealworms with or without mixing any fruit or any other snack.
How Do Birds Find Mealworms?
Mealworms are not easy to locate as they are mostly found in moist, dark places such as dens of animals or beneath logs and rocks.
So it is difficult and unlikely for birds to locate them by themselves. Hence to feed mealworms to your birds, you have to find mealworms in the places mentioned above or buy them from the market.
So to feed mealworms to your birds, place them at the places where your birds can easily locate and see them, such as near bird feeders, birdbaths, perches, etc.
What Birds Eat Dried Mealworms?
Almost all species like mealworms, but a few species don’t like them that much but can be fed to all species when it comes to dried mealworms.
Mealworms are perfect for garden birds as they are rich in nutrients. Some species such as blackbirds, starlings, and bluetit birds are among the species that like dried mealworms a lot.
To make mealworms more juicy and appealing for your birds, you can soak them in water before feeding them.
How To Attract Birds With Mealworms?
Live mealworms are liked by most species of birds so live mealworms can be used to attract them easily.
On the other hand, dried mealworms, not many birds like them, but they can be attracted by soaking the dried mealworms in the water, making them more juicy and appealing.
An excellent method to attract birds with mealworms is putting them next to a birdhouse. In birdhouses, they will not just eat mealworms, and they can also lay eggs and raise their young ones.
Always serve fresh mealworms to attract them to their food. If you see mealworms are finished on the ground or in the bird feeder, add more mealworms.
Birds also like soaked mealworms, and you can serve mealworms soaked in water as they are juicier and liked by many birds. Please place them in two different places and then wait for the birds.
You can also mix mealworms and dried mealworms with other bird snacks and food items to attract birds towards them as some birds like to eat creative food and have a different variety of food.
You can also add seeds to it. It is not compulsory to serve mealworms with any other thing, and you can serve mealworms alone to birds.
Some birds eat mealworms in large quantities, while some eat a little bit. A lot of patience is required to attract birds with mealworms.
Because sometimes or almost whenever you place mealworms in bird feeders or on the ground, birds do not come suddenly. They take time to go and visit there.
Whenever a bird sees mealworms lying down on the ground, it will stop and feed on mealworms placed down there. Just wait for one bird. Other birds will come down automatically after seeing other birds eating food down there.
Why Are Birds Not Eating Mealworms?
Almost every bird likes to eat live mealworms, but when it comes to dried mealworms, many birds don’t like eating them, but you can feed dried mealworms by adding a little water to moisten them. However, it is preferred to feed live mealworms to your birds.
Do Pigeons Eat Mealworms?
Mealworms can be fed to pigeons as they contain a lot of healthy nutrients for pigeons. But mealworms are not liked by pigeons and should not be fed too often as they are rich in fat and protein, which can fatten pigeons.
Do Blue Jays Eat Mealworms?
Blue jays are not at all picky eaters. On the contrary, they will enjoy anything that is fed to them. Moreover, mealworms are one of their favorite foods, especially in winter.
But as blue jays are big and have a strong appetite, feeding them mealworms can often become expensive. Therefore, it is recommended to blue jays with mealworms only in the winter when they are not migrating.
Do Mockingbirds Eat Mealworms?
Mockingbirds can have mealworms included in their diet as mealworms are rich in protein and can provide a significant amount of vitamins and calcium.
But to feed mealworms to your pet mockingbirds, you will have to spread them across your yard as mockingbirds do not eat mealworms from the bird feeders.
Do Cardinals Eat Mealworms?
Like many other birds, Cardinals also fall into the species that love to eat mealworms, whether they are live mealworms or dried mealworms.
However, they prefer live mealworms, especially in the spring season, as they prefer feeding their hatchlings with live mealworms.
So the only thing you should consider while feeding mealworms to your cardinals is to feed the live mealworms, but dried mealworms can also be fed to cardinals if you cannot find the live ones.
Can Budgies Eat Mealworms?
Like other pet birds, budgies can have mealworms as they can be a good source of protein, calcium, and many different vitamins.
But it would be best to always keep in mind that budgies prefer grains in their diet, so mealworms should be fed in a minimum amount. In addition, mealworms have tryptophan in high amounts.
Tryptophan is one of the most crucial amino acids that can be found in all food having protein in it that birds eat. Budgies and other birds need tryptophan as it is important for maintaining their health issues. So make sure you include mealworms in their diet.
Can Cockatiels Eat Mealworms?
Yes, cockatiels can eat mealworms and can be added to their diet as mealworms are full of many nutrients such as protein, vitamins, and calcium.
However, although mealworms are considered healthy for your pet cockatiels, their diet can not rely on only mealworms. Just like any other bird, cockatiels also require a diverse and balanced diet.
Summary
Mealworms are protein-enriched food for birds. They add great value to the growth of birds. The nutrients present in mealworms are very beneficial for the health of birds. Bluebirds, great tot, wrens, and thrush birds like to eat mealworms a lot.
When you are serving mealworms to birds, try to serve them with their favorite foods. Do not overfeed them with mealworms because this may harm the health of birds.
Sources:
https://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/meal-worms-95345395
http://vireo.ansp.org/bird_academy/insect-eating%20birds.php
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