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.

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.

You really do get the coolest birds! Wow.

I'm in the Midwest too. I buy mealworms at Lowes and mix them with raisins to distribute to the robins that didn't migrate. Have a heated water dish as well, though I mostly see the squirrels using it. Lots of snow here. I've been scraping snow away from the feeder area all week. Got blue jays, cardinals, grackles, pigeons, dark eyed juncos, sparrows, house finches, crows, lots of squirrels visiting regularly. Have a variety of feeders. I scrape areas on the ground to toss black oil seeds so the more shy visitors. I don't bother with the striped sunflower seeds because they are too tough for the smaller birds to crack open. I mix grit and fine sand with the seed that is sprinkled on the deck rail so it slows down the squirrels. It also helps the doves and other birds who will eat the stuff off the road if they can't find it elsewhere. Peanut ring and suet feeders. I smear peanut butter on rice cakes and put these in the suet feeder. Going to experiment with making my own suet. Anyone seen the Cornel Live cams? I like looking at the feeders they use to get ideas. A link that might be useful: http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/all-cams/