Bird Watching: Anyone want to guess..., 1 by SusanLouise

SusanLouise wrote:
how many mealworms one Robin eats in a day?

I've been routinely feeding one female since the 15th. She was not the female that nested on our porch, but it's the one that nested in our neighbor's crab apple tree. The 1st day I fed her mealworms, she fed her fledgling a beak full of mealworms. The female has been fed every day since. She only fed her fledgling on the 15th. All the days since she has just eaten for herself.
Yesterday I was testing to see how many mealworms she would eat per feeding. If I put X# in the container, there would always be a few left. If I left X#, she would eat them all and was satisfied and flew off. Sometimes I'd miss a mealworm that was near death and she would leave it to let me know...LOL
Today I timed her feedings to be between 1 hour and 15 minutes apart to about an hour and 45 minutes. I started feeding her today at 8:50am. I'm sure if I was up at 4-5am, she would have had 2 more feedings. Well, she is on her own in the morning. This ole' gal is not going out any earlier for feedings.
So, long story short, and back to my original question, how many mealworms do you think one Robin can eat in a day?
BTW, I only feed her and I bring the container back inside when she is done. It serves many reasons. I couldn't afford to feed anymore birds and it helps me keep track of the #'s she eats too. I'm seriously considering starting to make a mealworm farm...if not soon, definately for next Spring!!!
The only day she fed her fledgling was on the 15th...all the other days since then she eats all of the mealworms I give her, and none are carried away other than the ones in her belly. Since her nest is up in a different tree 2 houses away, I have no clue as to if she is nesting one more time or not...time will tell.

I will give you the answer to the question after several try and guess 1st. I thought it would be fun. I will only give you one clue. If I got up at about 4-5am, there would be a total of 11 feedings a day. I feed her 9 times a day :)

Here's a few pics...
This is the 1st pic I took of her eating mealworms I put out...

This message was edited Jun 22, 2010 6:29 PM

This message was edited Jun 22, 2010 6:39 PM