A beautiful but annoying bird
By Clint Perry
@cperry2 (5608)
Newport, Oregon
December 3, 2020 11:59am CST
I love watching birds though I would never count myself as a bird watcher. I more like seeing them as wildlife and part of nature. I do love to take photos of them though.
This is a Stellar's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) and while beautiful to look at is an annoying bird if one enjoys having bird feeders and seeing a variety of birds come to share. You see, the Stellar's jay is a bully and shoves smaller birds out of the way to get to the food they like best, (sunflower seeds, and peanuts) They tend to be noisy and complain with grating squawks every time I walk out into the yard.
I like to see them, but I also like seeing chestnut-backed chickadees, spotted towhees, grosbeaks, goldfinches, purple finches, and many others. But when the jays are near, most other birds steer clear. Only the crows don't seem to be bothered much by the jays.
Do you like to watch birds, and do you have an annoying few that make it hard at times?
Edit: Photo is mine.
11 people like this
11 responses
@RebeccasFarm (86731)
• United States
10 Dec 20
Is he related to the blue jay at all
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@RebeccasFarm (86731)
• United States
10 Dec 20
@cperry2 I remember arriving back in the USA from England and waking to the loud blue jays here and thinking even the birds are louder here lol
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@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
10 Dec 20
Yes, there are several varieties of Jays, Here we have the steller's jay, in California, we had a scrub jay, and when we were in Texas we had blue jays, they are all the same size just their plumage is different. (In south texas there is even a green jay, also related but he has green instead of blue feathers.)
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@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
10 Dec 20
@RebeccasFarm Jays certainly are loud. They are capable of making pleasing sounds too. But mostly I just hear a grating squawk from them. I think they do not like me being in my yard. Like maybe they think it is there and I am an invader. We do live near a forest less than two blocks away. I suppose that is why we get so many of them here.
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@snowy22315 (169828)
• United States
4 Dec 20
That is a beautiful bird. I do like bird watching from time to time, but I am usually into the brightly colored ones. Most of the birds around here are kind of a boring brown.
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@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
5 Dec 20
That's the way it was where I lived down in California. We did have a few scrub jays, but mostly just sparrows and doves and occasionally one might see a hummingbird. Of course, I lived in the suburbs of Sacramento well away from any forest. Here, we are two blocks from a huge forest where people are discouraged from hiking and hunting is illegal. (Most of it belongs to the local water company.)
@Fleura (29108)
• United Kingdom
5 Dec 20
@cperry2 No indeed! We have a similar issue with starlings - they used to be incredibly common, you would get flocks of them on lawns and playing fields, but nowadays it's quite unusual to see any, I'm sure I haven't seen even one for a couple of years. No-one seems to know why though.
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@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
5 Dec 20
About twenty years ago, when I was still living in California, we would get magpies, then a bird flu or something rolled through the area, and almost overnight the magpies were gone. They did not return. I read that they were nearly wiped out in the Sacramento area. I moved up to Oregon about six years ago, my daughter (who still lives near Sacramento, tells me she sees them once in a while now. I remember they were pretty annoying as well. But no one would wish for them to all die like that.
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@Deepizzaguy (94427)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
4 Dec 20
I like seeing birds that are either in the front porch or back yard seeing them eating food on the grass or resting on a clothesline.
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@Deepizzaguy (94427)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
4 Dec 20
@cperry2 Thank you for sharing this story on this site.
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@dgobucks226 (34343)
•
3 Dec 20
I share your feelings about Blue Jays. They monopolize my feeder whenever I put peanuts out, and yes, squawks when they see me in the yard. Just waiting to pounce from their tree perch! When it comes to seeds though they have bully competition in the doves who come to feed. Those doves do not take any guff from any bird once they have established their territory! 
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