I set up a bird feeder outside my office window, and throw peanuts to the Blue Jays with the squirrels all around. The Blue Jays do not in my area risk getting bitten on the ass by the squirrels.
When I throw out peanuts in the shell, if I throw it where a squirrel can make a run for it, it it is close, the Blue Jays abort and don't get the peanut. Sometimes, they can swoop in and grab it on the fly inches before the squirrel, but...more often, they just abort.
And the squirrel, even though it ran right for it, stops, and seems to have lost the peanut completely, even though it is only a foot or two away. It appears to go into a somewhat rectangular search pattern, and appears to be using smell to find the peanut, not sight, and always finds it with a few seconds.
I have seen, while the squirrel is in this box search, if it has its back to both the Blue Jay AND the peanut, the bolder jays will swoop in and grab the peanut from behind the squirrel. But 90% of the time, the squirrel gets it.
I know people regard squirrels as vermin, and they are, but they aren't rats. They exhibit a degree of "squirrel intelligence" that makes me admire them, even as they interfere with my bird watching and feeding. The feeder I have is a Droll Yankee "Yankee Flipper". It is pretty much squirrel proof if you keep it charged, as the squirrel steps on the motorized bird perch rail at the bottom, its weight starts the feeder and throws them off. It is wildly entertaining up until the point where the squirrel learns the motorized aspect of it, and after that, you don't even have to charge the feeder any more. I haven't charged my one at work for at least six months to a year, because the squirrels learn to not even bother to try.
But...until they DO learn, it is highly entertaining, because they DO try, and are persistent. Mine has claw and bite marks all over the top, but heck, I can barely get the thing on the way it is designed, and they have no chance. When they try, the persistent ones cling to it and go for a ride after which they are thrown to the ground, as the video below shows:
Here is a link to a Squirrel in slow motion who is bound and damned determined to hang on to my feeder to the bitter end...a lot of food spilled which he went down and ate, but after that determined ride, how could I begrudge him that? (this was one I marked up for the election, but if you want to see the whole thing, click the link:
LINK: Squirrel gets the ride of his life on my Yankee Flipper squirrel proof bird feeder!
The new squirrels will sit on the top, twitching their tail, trying to figure out how to get to the seed. This one decides he is going to grab on to the top with his hind feet, and STREEEETCH to the food opening without touching the perch rail. He almost does it, but loses his grip and lands on the perch rail, and the ride begins! (NOTE: I only caught this because I heard the motor turn on the first time he tried and got thrown off, and I saw him run at full speed back up the tree, out the branch and back down to the feeder to try again, so I began recording!
When I come into work, and I open my office door, I have seen as many as 25 Blue Jays lined up in the brush and small trees outside my window waiting for peanuts. They appear to know that when the bald guy with the lab coat turns on the lights and opens the window, peanuts are soon to arrive.
I keep my peanuts in an old Quaker Oats container, and when I open it and place the open container on the window sill, the Blue Jays begin to show signs of agitation and excitement. They start twitching, hopping from branch to branch, and vocalizing.
I can tell how many are there, because they have a pecking order. Sometimes two jays will compete for the same peanut, but most of the time, I can throw a peanut out and one at a time will grab it. That way, I can count off. Usually it is about ten, but I have gotten up to 25.
I find Blue Jays fascinating. They are greedy. And discriminating. If you throw two peanuts out that are clearly different sizes, they ALWAYS go for the larger one. ALWAYS. But if you throw out two that are the same size and they land a few feet from each other, the Blue Jay will pick one up, drop it, and pick up the other one. But they often cannot decide, and I have seen them pick up and drop two peanuts alternately as many as five or six times which is hilarious. They MUST get the larger one.
Even funnier, the REALLY greedy ones will try to force one of them into their gullet or throat pouch so they can grab the other one too, and it is a riot to watch them, beak straight up in the air, choking with frustration because getting a peanut inside a shell into their gullet is an impossible task. I have never seen one succeed, but they try like hell. (a peanut freed from the shell goes down nicely, but...they can't stay exposed in that area too long pecking at the shell because there are a lot of hawks around.
Too exposed.
I did see one enterprising Blue Jay try and try to get the whole peanut in the gullet with no success, and in a flash of inspiration, with the peanut only halfway down, impaled the other peanut on its beak and flew away.
That is another characteristic I find entertaining about Blue Jays-when they get their peanut, they fly madly away as if they had a pack of Focke-Wulf 190s on their tails...they look like they are making off with their ill-gotten booty!
So, you can probably tell-I love Blue Jays.
Now, the Squirrels and Blue Jays both love those peanuts, but I am not interested in feeding peanuts to the squirrels. But in competition for thrown peanuts, the squirrels in my area usually win.
So, when I open the window, and both the Squirrel and the Blue Jay are eyeing me (and...each other) I throw the peanut as far as I can where the Blue Jay will be able to fly to it first before the Squirrel, running at top speed, has any chance to get to it.
I enjoy this game, because, even though the Squirrel and the Blue Jay both know this game, they also know it is tilted in the Blue Jay's favor. When I throw it, the Blue Jay will make an immediate aerial beeline right to it, and even though the squirrel gamely runs, unless I make a mistake, the Blue Jay always wins.
As for the interspecies pecking order, it goes like this:
- Turkeys.
- Blue Jays
- Squirrels
- Titmouses
Turkeys are rapacious and unassailable. When they are out there, all other species defer to them. Turkeys don't mess around. And they seem quite intelligent. I have flocks of 10-15 at a time, and when they arrive and begin eating the bird seed that has fallen to the ground under the feeder, nothing else will eat, not even at the feeder.
The Blue Jays watch, and the squirrels and Titmouses disappear.
The Turkeys are pretty wild. They apparently love peanuts. I didn't know this. They just eat them in the shell, whole. And when I throw them, the whole flock of turkeys will run at top speed for them, and God help the first turkey that lowers its head to grab the peanut, because there are multiple beaks, like daggers descending towards the breast of Julius Caesar, coming for the back of their ugly turkey head. Not for the faint of heart. Think of the fumble in the Super Bowl by Cam Newton. For him, the thought of sticking his hand out to grab that ball (peanut) was quite similar in danger to that turkey going for the peanut. No wonder his courage failed him.
In all of this, my favorites are the Titmouses. For them, I place peanuts right on the window sill, and they come right up, perch there, look at me, choose a peanut, hold it in their beak as they look at me before flying away. When I have the window closed with no peanuts, they land and twitter at me through the glass for peanuts. The Blue Jays will fly up too and take them, but they don't stick around.
Here is a Titmouse in slow motion flying up to my window, they are beautiful flyers:
LINK: Titmouse flies up in slow motion to get peanut from window sill.
Those beautiful little Titmouses will eat out of my hand, and I came into my office to find one perched on a shelf on the other side of the office. As soon as I walked in, it flew towards the other side of my office and out the open window. I adore those little buggers. They have grit and character, and they love those peanuts too, but...they won't fight the Blue Jays for them. They stay out of the way. Here is a picture of one on my hand and the video of him flying up and landing:
LINK: Titmouse flies up to get peanut from my hand