The Shell Game
One of the lesser-known ways to attract birds is by putting out eggshells. Female birds, drained of calcium by egg-laying, eagerly consume them. I have had eastern bluebirds, blue-gray gnatcatchers, northern (Baltimore) orioles, scarlet tanagers, eastern kingbirds, and tree swallows, as well as barn swallows, come to the eggshells.
I save and rinse our eggshells, then bake them lightly on a cookie sheet at 250 degrees until dry, but not brown. This sterilizes them and makes them brittle. You can crumble them into bite-sized bits and spread them on a patch of bare ground, a rock, a platform feeder, or your deck railing. You may find they’re so popular, you’ll need to go to your favorite diner to beg for more!
My mother had one but she dropped i