THE BIRD FEED BATTLE CONTINUES

Stellar blue jays are clever little critters. They are also, like most jays, pigs and thieves. Hence, we, me and them, are locked in a battle; a battle of the bird feeder. They want all the seed for themselves, I want share it with the smaller song birds.

I may not win the battle, but I will never give up.

Those are the boastful words of a smart aleck who thinks he is smarter than birds that make a living by outsmarting other birds and most humans – and have been doing so for generations.

The bird feeder, a gift from one of my daughters, has an A-frame shape with the carved face of a wood spirit on the front. (It’s not actually carved. The bird feeder was made in China and the front is made of some sort of cheap plastic with the face pressed into it during manufacture, I’m sure.) On each side of the A-frame is a ledge/tray where the birdseed settles. Birds grasp the edge of the tray and eat their fill of seeds. As they do so, more seeds drop down from inside the A-frame housing.

It works well and it blends with the country atmosphere we enjoy here at our ranch in the mountains of Colorado.

Most birds, most small birds fly up to the tray take a seed or two and fly off. Stellar jays are pigs and bullies! They land on the edge of the tray tipping the A-frame in their direction that causes great amounts of seed to spill out of the tray onto the ground. Their companions (10 this morning: one on the tray and nine on the ground) nearly emptied the A-frame in an hour or so. They eat and eat until you would swear they could not fly. But they do. They fly off and tell all their buddies about this great buffet at the Cummins ranch.

Previously, I affixed two round cardboard tubes, about two inches in diameter, just above the tray. This blocked the jays from perching on the edge of the tray but did not prevent smaller birds from perching there. It took the jays about one day, however, to figure out that they could perch on the top of the tube and bend down to the tray from above. They did not enjoy eating “up-side-down,” but they persevered. The one on the tube still got to eat his/her fill and, happily for those on the ground, managed to still spill enough seed to keep everyone happy – except the smaller birds, that is.

This morning (Friday, August 28, 2009), I stapled a stiff piece of cardboard to the top of each cardboard tube. This created a three-inch canopy over the top of the tray that, temporarily, keeps the jays from perching on top and bending over to get to the seeds in the tray. The smaller birds can fly under the canopy, perch on the edge of the tray and get to the seeds without any trouble.

The Stellar jays, for now, must be satisfied with seeds that are tossed to the ground, of which there are many. They will not go hungry; they just will not be able to stuff themselves like feathered blue pigs, as they have the past few days.

I realize, of course, that the bird feeder battle is not over. The next move is theirs and I am confident they will come up with one.