Give Mom Bugs for Birds?

By Wild Birds Unlimited, Tampa

Photo of Red-Winged Blackbirds by Nathanial O’Connell.

Bugs? The perfect gift for mom? Really?

OK, this one is going to take some explaining!

In reality, there are lots of reasons why you should seriously consider such a seemingly preposterous suggestion.

You see…birds love bugs, and moms love birds. When your yard and feeders offer an abundant source of bugs, the birds are sure to be there to brighten your mother’s day.

May is prime nesting season for birds, and virtually every bird feeds their young a diet of insects for weeks. If you fill your feeders with foods that contain mealworms, while also providing a healthy, diverse insect population in your yard, you’ll have more fledglings and a greater variety of visiting songbirds.

There are two good ways to make sure your yard is full of the insect foods that all these birds are seeking.

One is to give mom flowers for Mother’s Day. Not the usual bouquet that wilts in a few days, but a variety of native plants that can be grown in her yard (or containers) that will bring joy throughout the entire summer. Native plants add interest and beauty, while also attracting many varieties of the native insects that birds actively seek out.

The second part of the one-two punch is offering mealworms to your birds. Mealworms are quite a treat and provide a stable supplement for birds that naturally eat native insects.

So, maybe giving bugs to mom for Mother’s Day is not so preposterous…but you might want to have a copy of this article handy…just in case.