I know the shocked feeling. About 5 years ago I had a flock of 10 or more bluebirds show up. I live in Michigan!!

They will keep coming back now that they know the mealworms are there. My blues will eat the peanut butter suet. I shred it to make it easier for them to eat. I also have been giving them all the waxworms they can eat. Last night it was -3 and today the high will be 10. They are so cold. They sit on their feet to eat.

The blues really like a heated bird bath too. They come to drink several time a day.

Thanks for posting...you made me worry less. If they can take -7, then they can make it at -3 here in Michigan.

Keep the worms coming!!!! :)

Karen

Thankfully they are taking some of the peanut butter suet. I am getting seriously low on mealworms. I gave them all the older beetles from one of my containers and they gobbled those right up. Then I tried what the purple martin landlords do and cooked some egg yolks and chopped them up well. I offered those with a sprinkling of mealworms, but they just picked out the mealworms. Hopefully when I run out of mealworms the suet mixture will keep them going. I'm refilling the feeder 5 times a day. This feels like such an honor to have them here, so I'll do my best to keep them fed. I don't have a heated bird bath, but perhaps I can rig something up to get them through this cold spell. Thanks for that idea.

Bluebirds will also eat sunflower chips. I have a flock of 9 here in Bedford, NH... easily 60 miles north and west of Boston and when the mealoworm cup is empty, they eat seeds. they are at leasy high in fat... they won't touch suet yet this year... last year, they did. These babies don't know its edible, I guess.

And for water, I heard that a heated dog bowl-dish (with some pebbles at the bottom, so its not too deep) will also do when it gets really cold out, and they are not as expensive as a heated birdbath. Years ago, I bought a plug-in heating element for $50, and put it in a ceramic dish that catches water under a plant... and that works well even in negative digits!

Same here. I live halfway between Boston and Worcester and at minus 7 today had 6-8 BB's at my feeder. Used the last of my mealworms & put out some beetles which they wolfed down. Entered a quick order for mealworms from nyworms.com. In meantime, they're eating my sunflower chips, along w/about 50 Pine Siskins & a dozen goldfinches.

Assabet, the pine siskins are incredible this year, huh? All they eat is the finch mix I give them - which has small seeds in there like tiny pieces of sunflower chips and nyjer. They are skittish coming and going in waves.

That is a good shot of how birds keep warm by scrunching down (to prevent heat loss from legs.)

Great idea with the heated dog food bowl!

I have buckets of pine siskins at feeders in CT this year too although they are not skittish - very hungry I think. I had not seen them in about 5 years.

Here is a link that might be useful: How birds keep warm and info on roosting boxes

Wow, so a lot of you are experiencing what I am. I too have lots of pine siskins, which I have never had before. I also have some song sparrows, which I don't believe I've ever seen here at my feeders. And Karen, thanks so much for suggesting the heated water supply. The other birds have mostly ignored it, but the blues have been drinking quite a bit. They are now eating cooked, chopped egg yolk, suet, wax worms and meal worms. I drove 20 miles and spent 20 bucks for the wax worms. We do love our blues, don't we?

Poor blues look stressed and very hungry. The snow and dangerous cold temps have these northern bluebirds stressed if there food supply is cut off now
there doomed. Thanks to everyone that feeds these resident bluebirds they need you. Ray

Hi Kendra, we must live very close to each other, I am about 20 miles west of Boston too! This is the 3rd winter that Bluebirds have visited my suet log. I feed them a home-made peanut butter/suet mixture made with ingredients similar to what is listed on Sialis.org. I fill the log, and also break the mixture up into nuggets. The Blues prefer to perch at the tray to eat the nuggets, but they will perch AND cling to the log to eat the suet mixture too.

I have never fed meal worms, so obviously the Bluebirds seem to be doing fine on the suet mixture. The little flock visit every day. They are often waiting for me first thing in the morning to fill the suet. Of course, many other types of birds love the suet mixture too. Except for the Finches and Pine Siskins, they eat the BOSS.

I really enjoy watching the Blues, they are my favorite, and am very happy if this helps them make it through the winter!

Hi Terrene, how nice to know I have a fellow bluebird lover so close by. It is so good to hear that your blues get by on the suet mixture because that's all I'm going to have left by the end of the day. The Juncos and Song Sparrows have been devouring the mealworms and waxworms. The Blues are getting some, but I can't afford to feed all the birds insect larvae. As of this morning, there are only 4 males and 1 female still here. I don't know if it was two flocks that separated, but that would be my guess. I feel a lot more hopeful about their survival now that the weather is warming up.

I have at least 5 coming to my feeder. They are eating sunflower chips and Nut N' Berry mix from Walmart.

Here's another pic