I just saw an article in the des moines newspaper about purple martins. Most interesting part was coaxing them to eat scrambled eggs.
Early spring is a dangerous time for the birds. Windy, rainy or cool days can dramatically reduce the number of flying insects on which they feed.
Too many bad days in a row and they'll starve, often dying by the dozens.
Dearborn doesn't allow this. He's been known to stand in his yard during rotten weather flinging handfuls of crickets and mealworms for the birds to snatch out of the air.
After three years of trying, he's even managed to coax the diehard insect-eaters into feeding on scrambled eggs out of a feeder.
Last year, a particularly bad spring, he went through 10,000 crickets, 10,000 millworms and probably 20 dozen eggs.
