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Blue Jays gone wild

15 years ago

So, I like my spunky jays and don't mind sharing space with them. I have a nest up high in a wild cherry tree with babies in it. I see the parents go there to feed, and hear the babies squawking. But this morning from dawn and continuing all day is the constant screaming of adult jays. There is a flock of them six in count flying from tree to tree, landing briefly and moving to a different tree. They're covering an area of about four acres moving constantly.

I can see no other large predatory birds, so I don't know if they're banding together to drive off a threatening species or not. Frankly, I've never seen them do this before in a gang. (Just parents dive bombing to protect a nest). Any ideas?

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Comments (4)

kendra2003
15 years ago
Just a guess, but perhaps there is a Coopers they are chasing that you didn't see? Last year mine did that every evening, and I caught sight of the coopers flying out of a tree.
bandjzmom
15 years ago
Hi calliope! Ours here do the SAME thing. I have been seeing groups of 6-8 Blue Jays flying together across the yard, all of them yelling loudly the whole way. I don't think that the behavior is connected to a hawk here. I noticed it last year when the parents fledged their young. They stayed in and around the yard for a long time, and they would engage in this same screaming Blue Jay posse behavior. I'm not sure why they do it though.
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frmbritt - it's best if you start a new post/thread. You'll get more responses. Feeding birds can become a challenge when certain birds dominate your feeders. I struggle with this too (I get a lot of blackbirds). To prevent doves you need feeders they can't use. I could suggest a tube feeder with perches. The fat doves can't land on the perches. They also have tube feeders and suet feeders with cages around them. This prevents bigger birds from entering and allows smaller birds access (like a bluebird). The not so fun part is buying new/more feeders. I'm going thru this now.... Just when I thought I was good on feeders, now I'm buying caged feeders, and they aren't cheap.
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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
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beegood_gw
15 years ago
Maybe there is a litle owl hiding somewhere during the day. If the ones at my place carry on like that there is sure to be one. Magpies join in as well.
Elly_NJ
15 years ago
Or a cat. It's the neighbor alarm.

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