THE BULLIES IN MY DOORYARD

I was just pouring my morning cup of coffee when my cat suddenly sprang up to the sill of my kitchen window and puffed up about twice his normal size as a ruckus began outside on my deck.  There seemed to be a bit of bullying going on and I went to the window to check out the situation for myself.  Sure enough, two blue-jays were loudly demanding a gray squirrel get out of the way.  They wanted my bird feeder to themselves and of course the blue-jays naturally assumed the feeder was for birds only and the gray squirrel was infringing on their territorial rights.  All it took was me tapping on the window and everyone dispersed much to my cat’s disappointment, I’m quite sure from the disgusted look I received.

I enjoy watching the birds, watching them build their homes in the spring and raise their young, hearing them sing, watching their antics all year long and when winter comes I have several feathered friends that visit my birdfeeder; chickadees, sparrows, nuthatches, a few finches that didn’t fly south, a pair of cardinals and an occasional woodpecker, a greedy raven and of course the blue-jays.  Oh those blue-jays do love to strut their stuff. 

Blue-jays are a very handsome bird and they are comical and fun to watch, most of the time; and they are the first to notify me and the neighborhood in general if there are strange or unwanted visitors around, at least strange and unwanted in their opinion.  They are the self-proclaimed guardians of the backyard and the woodlands. 

The blue-jays are usually the first to arrive at my feeders making their presence known with loud squawks, ordering me to hurry up and fill that feeder.  They are bossy and bullies from time to time but occasionally they meet their match. 

There are a couple a beautiful gray squirrels who think my feeder was meant for them and them alone and they don’t take much sass from Mr. Blue-jay unless it becomes gang warfare and a flock of blue-jays decide to gang up on the squirrels.  Blue-jays can be such bullies.  They can be most selfish and can have a nasty disposition if they don’t get their way though I have seen the flock of sparrows who frequent my feeder hold their own against one or two jays.  They sing sweetly for their dinner, enjoy their feast and the blue-jays wait, squawking and complaining all the while.