Our bird feeder provides great entertainment, as well as timely lessons. This morning, my grandchildren observed a “bully” bird (blue jay) that pecked and chased away smaller birds so he could hog the feeder. When the blue bird is away, we can have several varieties of songbirds feasting happily together. The blue jay, however, wants it all for himself – or one bully buddy. (I put out peanuts for the squirrel and two jays cleaned out the entire bowl in five minutes; taking turns and stashing them in the woods below out house.)
This bully jay isn’t the only I’ve known. In a previous home, we had a shelf outside the kitchen window on which I scattered seed so I could have an up-close-and-personal look at birds in our yard. The jay took over the shelf. When he finished off the seed, he looked at me through the window with raised (or seemingly so) white brows. He’d tilt his head and glare. I could almost hear his thoughts: “...