Is it a bad idea to attract blue jays?
georgia_kate
14 years ago
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birding_nut
14 years agodonald lucius
14 years agoRelated Discussions
what attraction(s) do you recommend visiting in PA?
Comments (24)Hi! I love PA and its history. I lived out in the eastern part of the state for a while and the Harley Davidson plant is pretty cool...so are the little towns of Amish (as suggested above). If you're heading up to Erie (Presque Isle is GREAT!!!!) you could hit Oil City and check out the great old mansioins and museums. If you're heading north, check out the Allegheny Nat'l Park, too...there are tons of great places to stay for a night in a cabin on the lake. If you head south, you can always hit the city of Pittsburgh and take in the history there. The science center, station square, museums and strip district are always fun...even for those of us born and raised out here!!!!!!! You could always hit the PS grand canyon, too...heard it is beautiful! Hope you enjoy the trip and I can't wait to hear where you went!!! Take care and journey safe! ~k...See MoreBlue Jay Go Away
Comments (10)Hello All, I am new, but I will do what I usually do and jump in with both feet! I am happy that you are a peaceful man, hope that this helps. I don't know of a blue jay repellant, but I can offer some information for you in addition to that already provided by the others. I also came up with a couple of alternative bird you could dislike instead of the jay. One alternative is the Europian Starling, introduced by man, and began to spread over the whole country. They compete aggressively with native birds for nesting. Birds are in enough trouble from of loss of habitat from mankind. (you can prevent them from taking up residence in your birdhouses by making the entrance 1 1/2 " or less so they can't get inside the joint.) The Cowbird is another alternative to bluejay loathing. It sneaks into other bird's nests and lays it's eggs, making the other bird do all the work. The field guide called it parisitizing and the cowbird affects about 144 species altogether and some are threatened with extinction altogether. The cowbird is only doing what it has always done, only we changed the playing field and the combination is lethal. Back to the BlueJay. The jays fly around in courtship flocks in the spring follow the leader style and give a variety of calls. (acording to Stokes Field Guide these flocks are made up of several males and leading the way one female. When they land the males start bobbing raising their whole body up and down, while giving the "toolool" call. Good News, they are quiet during breeding. They also dive bomb hawks giving jay calls. I don't know if a "scarehawk" would work, it would scare off the other birds too and you don't want that. One more thing you could try, is to lure the jay to another area of your yard. The jay eats acorns, nuts, fruit, and it comes to feeders for sunflower seed and cracked corn. You could put sunflower seed (black oil I think) and cracked corn on a feeder away from your window. That might work. Good luck to you, I hope I wasn't too long winded for you all. Happy Birding! Bitsy In the end, I would say the best thing to do is to get some earplugs and find some common ground. You could even learn to not despise the jay....See Moregarlic mustard and ? knotweed ? good/bad idea to...
Comments (25)Hi Folks, I just wanted to throw in my $.02 on the subject of controlling Japanese Knotweed. This past week I spent two days removing the knotweed from hill along the side of my driveway. The infestation had been growing for about two years and spreading rapidly. In my case, the hillside that was covered in knotweed also had some plants that I wanted to save- some sugar maples, four varieties of ferns, and some viburnum, so using a foliar spray was out of the question. Instead, I used the "cut stem application" as outlined in this document: http://www.pullman-wa.gov/content/WYSIWYG/Recreation/Japanese%20knotweed.pdf The document recommends cutting the canes between the first and second node and filling the "well" with concentrated herbicide (I chose plain Glyophosphate, you choose your own poison). The document claims this method is 95% effective. Another method involves injecting the plant with herbicide using an injection tool. The upside to this method is that you don't need to dispose of the cut canes. In all, it took me just about two days to clear the hillside. I cut enough canes to completely fill my 8' truck bed two times. I'll keep an eye on the area for the next year or so in case any survivors pop up. -Josh-...See MoreAre blue jays picky eaters
Comments (21)Sorry about the double delay post. Except for sparrows and squirrels, I don't actually have a lot of pest birds. There are a total of 4 black birds and 2 blue jays. They are hardly an annoyance compare to the 50 house sparrows and 10 squirrels. The sparrows and squirrels will eat everything (though squirrels won't eat thistle seeds). I actually like to see the blue jay more and I set the blue jay type food away from the main feeder and the blue jay has not bother the other birds ever since. They end up fighting the squirrels for the nuts. By the way, is it bad to feed birds raw peanuts? I recall someone saying that raw peanut may be toxic. Paul...See Morejeanner
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