Out my window I saw a blue jay attack a baby sparrow. Just before I reached it, the jay picked up and then dropped the baby, possibly because I was getting close. Why would it do this? Hunger?
Predation, possibly. They’ll even go after chicken chicks.
They are pretty crows, after all.
Yes. Blue Jays are assholes.
I know they eat other birds’ eggs. I find them nice to look at, but annoying.
Sorry Torontonians.
Nature’s Little Assholes, corvid division.
I love mine, but yep, they are dicks for no good reason. I put out enough almonds, walnuts, pecans and seed mix for all the birds in my neighborhood a couple of times a week to enjoy looking at while I have my coffee.
They are good until the almonds run out, the flying pigs will take 4 or 5 at a time! After that they are too full to fight. I notice they don’t pick on other birds their own size like cardinals and they won’t ever mess with the woodpecker. But they push around the little birds all the time.
Yes, I’ve seen them raid other bird’s nests to eat the chicks.
Cardinals are assholes, too. In many neighborhoods you’ll find a gang of Cardinals going from feeder to feeder, and shooing away any other birds that might be at a feeder when they arrive at one.
Cardinals are definitely snooty. Like they expect you to kiss their ring or something.
I think they’re more territorial than Blue Jays and certainly push around smaller birds so they can hog the bird seed but Blue Jays seem to be yard thugs that go after all the other birds for no reason. They only fear crows and hawks in my backyard. The Cardinals do try to hold their own though.
The daily drama in my backyard is two bluejays dive bombing and driving away the (larger) crows that stray into the yard. I thought they were protecting a nest, but this has been going on for 3 or 4 months.
Well, they are dinosaurs, so pretty much anything smaller is fair game to get picked on or worse.
Good news: we put the little bird (who wasn’t moving) on a washcloth in a box (with the lid cracked) and went to do errands. When we got home and checked it flew out and hid!
But we carefully picked it up and put it outside outside under a bush, and it quickly hopped onto a low branch. Here’s hoping it was just in shock.
And lots of hand washing!
Cardinals are the neighborhood avian airheads-they would often get stuck inside my old pool screen and could never remember the place they got in (courtesy of a neighborhood dog who loved to swim in my pool), while the wrens never had any issues.
Blue Jays while acknowledged assholes will call attention to local predators to the benefit of all other fellow birds, but will often imitate them too, presumably to steal snacks while the rest are all freaked out and hiding.
Jays will attack anything. They harrie my garage cats all the time.
The cats love to sit on a bench and watch the birds at the feeders.
The Bluejays are the designated “Birds in Blue” of this neighborhood.
Yep, serious buttholes with a powerhead.
I’ve been dive bombed many times.
Blue jays are commonly uncommon here. The jays are year round residents but I may not spot any for a season or two. In fact, I’ll frequently find a blue feather while mowing but no jays all summer.
But, yes, the last I remember seeing locally was at least a few weeks ago and had drawn attention to itself by engaging in combat with an adult downy woodpecker which are quite common. Both are tough squawkers and the fight was quite entertaining. I don’t think anyone got hurt and they both flew off but my suspicion is that the jay attacked the smaller woodpecker.
One of the most impressive feats of ornithological action I ever saw was a blue jay dive-bombing a neighborhood cat, hitting it so hard the cat did a somersault, and then flying off as if nothing happened.
All corvids are assholes on a certain level.
Unless they like you. Then they bring you pretty shiny things and hope you give them food in return.
Don’t piss them off - they will remember your individual face for years, and tell their children so they’ll hate you, too.
All of the above is true.
Wrens (House Wrens at least ) are murderous little bastards!
As are House Sparrows but everybody knows that
Gotta remember - those cute, feathered little birds that are sooo adorable…
… their ancestors survived shit that killed off all the T. Rex’s.
They’re as ruthless as they are pretty.
This has long been a problem after-hours in Vatican City.