JAYS
Editor's Corner

Jays act like gangs in the neighborhood. They hang out in groups and are loud and pushy (and smart). Their main victims are insects. They also eat from feeders. I have a tube feeder with a cage that we fill with seeds mixed with nuts and fruit and a ball-shaped feeder with sunflower seeds. They hit both pretty hard. Amazingly they have no problem with the sunflower feeder meant for clinging birds. Large birds can't usually hold on. They do so with aplomb. We have a cardinal who has learned to eat from the tube feeder. Two years ago he flapped hard while trying unsuccessfully to hold on. Now he does so with ease. The sunflower ball is a different. He tries hard but has no luck feeding from it.

My son, Alan, has constructed a bar to hold up the tomatoes. The jays love it. They hang out one or two at a time, surveying the garden and sunflower patch for insects. They also use it as a launching pad to attack the feeders, the smaller birds scattering. Alan understands my interest in attracting the house finches, chickadees, titmice, wrens, woodpeckers, and other birds to the feeders but is upset that the jays are distracted from helping him patrol his garden. He probably hates doing it but he does a reasonable job keeping the feeders full.