• anon6789@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Boo! Hiss! You take that back!

    I love my blue jays so much! They’re corvids like crows and ravens, so they are very smart and have tons of personality.

    They became my buddies over Covid and I’ve gotten to watch them raise their families. They’ll call each other when they see me outside and sit in me tree and wait for me to bring them snacks. They’ll all approach in different ways, some braver, some more shy. They’ll discipline the young ones. The young ones will play with each other. They make many more calls than the harsh jeer call. They’ll do a little bobbing dance for me or each other when they’re excited.

    They’ve never picked on the other songbirds. The only things I’ve seen them get upset about were crows and hawks. Though 2 did get into it with each other pretty good once.

    They’re really great animals once you get over the stereotypes of them, and they are one of the things I miss every day about having to take a new job where I can’t be at home and interact with them throughout the day.

    • gbuttersnaps@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      Of course, I’m mostly joking. I feel like many people who live in areas with both cardinals and blue jays are told when we’re young that they don’t get along very well and we just pick a side and stick to it lol. I love seeing blue jays too, or any corvids really. Much better than seeing all the invasive birds in my area like European starlings.

      • anon6789@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yes, the starlings are the only ones I have to constantly remind myself that I don’t really hate them. 😂 At the end of winter they really start to destroy my feeder station.

        I bought into the blue jays scorn since I grew up being told they were jerks, but it changed one day when I decided to offer one a peanut. I’ve got 7 pretty regular bird buds now.

        My cardinals are pretty shy, but this year a mating pair of them learned they can get the peanuts too. I don’t see them near as much, but the lady cardinal is the more aggressive of the 2 when it comes to getting food and she will try to beat the jays too them occasionally and she can hold her own if she really wants that treat!

        This day it was drizzling, so it went under by downspout to eat it’s peanut.

        Just hanging out.

        I didn’t see what spooked this one, but this was the most unusual photo I got of one of them.

          • anon6789@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I don’t know what that is, so that is probably a contributing factor.

            They’re from my phone camera zoomed to the max, shot through my patio door and/or nylon screen at a bad angle, and Google’s AI color correction.

            They aren’t meant to wow with their technicality, just quick snaps of my outdoor friends. 😉

              • anon6789@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                I’m glad you can enjoy them too!

                If you want to see more birds, both my bad pictures, but many more good ones taken but actual photographers, check out !superbowl@lemmy.world for my daily posts. Lots of cool photos, and some great bird facts.