I’ve seen Blue Jays swoop down and “scream” at all the birds currently at the feeders- it’s quite a sight to see. (Usually they just “take turns” with the sparrows/finches and cardinals)
I started hand feeding them during COVID. I had been giving them shelled peanuts, but upgraded them to the in shell variety after we become buddies. Now that’s all they want, so they don’t really mind anyone else being there. The squirrels try to beat them to them though. The jays will enforce their own heirarchy between themselves though, and that is fun to watch. There’s also one that normally picks up every peanut to weigh it in its beak before deciding which one it wants. Greedy lil bugger!
I use a slingshot to fire peanuts off my patio to them and the squirrels. It also works good to get them to the more shy peanut eaters like the cardinals and titmice. They finally picked it up from watching the jays.
They still recognize me and the sound of my door opening, but when I had every day to spend with them, they’d recognize me coming up the walk and had a pretty solid order of who would eat in what order.
They’d call when they saw me outside and they’d gather up in the 2 closest trees and they’d come one by one to get a nut and return to their spot to eat it.
Now they come in faster and fly away a bit further, but they still recognize me as good people.
The slingshot lets me feed a less “assertive” bird if one shows up. I can fling it right to them at 75-100ft and they can quick get it hopefully before a jay or squirrel snipes it from them.
I’ve seen Blue Jays swoop down and “scream” at all the birds currently at the feeders- it’s quite a sight to see. (Usually they just “take turns” with the sparrows/finches and cardinals)
I started hand feeding them during COVID. I had been giving them shelled peanuts, but upgraded them to the in shell variety after we become buddies. Now that’s all they want, so they don’t really mind anyone else being there. The squirrels try to beat them to them though. The jays will enforce their own heirarchy between themselves though, and that is fun to watch. There’s also one that normally picks up every peanut to weigh it in its beak before deciding which one it wants. Greedy lil bugger!
I use a slingshot to fire peanuts off my patio to them and the squirrels. It also works good to get them to the more shy peanut eaters like the cardinals and titmice. They finally picked it up from watching the jays.
That’s amazing!
They still recognize me and the sound of my door opening, but when I had every day to spend with them, they’d recognize me coming up the walk and had a pretty solid order of who would eat in what order.
They’d call when they saw me outside and they’d gather up in the 2 closest trees and they’d come one by one to get a nut and return to their spot to eat it.
Now they come in faster and fly away a bit further, but they still recognize me as good people.
The slingshot lets me feed a less “assertive” bird if one shows up. I can fling it right to them at 75-100ft and they can quick get it hopefully before a jay or squirrel snipes it from them.