I’ve got just under 20 acres of land and I have blue bird houses all over. No sparrows, just blue birds! I’d say I had at least 10 blue bird families this Spring.
The mockingbirds are at perpetual war with the blue birds and will even go into the nesting boxes and try to kill the babies. I’ve had to dispatch a few overly agressive mockers with my ole’ swee’ pea 22 rifle. The mockers are VERY intelligent, and know when I bring ole’ swee’ pea out, they better settle down and fly away! I have not had to shoot a mocker in at least a decade. They seem to know me and know I will get serious.
Hmmmm.
Mockers....not supposed to shoot ‘em.
Pretend they’re starlings I guess.
There are a lot of birds that are nest robbers. Blue Jays are notorious for it.
Those precious cardinals that nested in my serviceberry bush, they had a helluva time getting their youngsters fledged. The Blue Jays swooped down and were ready to kill those red babies trying to get out of that nest.
In one instance I didn’t see the attacking Blue Jay but I did see a mighty protective red cardinal dad swoop down out of the sky and I saw one blue jay fly off yelling to its breathren, that angry cardinals were all about.
I was sitting on my porch and caught this action even as quick as it happened. I stood up and did the only thing I could do:
I cheered and I screamed and I sang my praises to the cardinal, I shouted to the heavens that he should beat the dickens out of the blue jays.
I looked for all my neighbors, like some kind of nut yelling at an empty sky.
I liked it though.
Blue Jays however, scream out a warning when there’s a hawk around. Blue Jays are renowned for their warnings and birds know to get back when they begin their scream. They also scream at sneaky snakes. In their way they are just as protective of wildlife as they are nest robbers.
It’s nature, and there’s a reason these critters do things. Might not make sense to us but the evolution has gone like it has for a reason and even us mighty humans might not quite get it.