Blue Jays often get a bad rap as being mean. People don’t want them around any more then they do English Sparrows. Unlike English Sparrows they won’t eat all the seed. They will fly down and grab a few bites. They will however like the English Sparrows gravitate towards clean water in a birdbath and splash it out.
Blue Jays usually bathe one at a time sometimes two. They will land in the water splash out a lot then fly up on a branch, clothesline, roof or on the side of the birdbath for a brief second before landing back in the water and splashing more water out repeating the process until they decide they are done bathing. They will knock out most of the water. It can be frustrating to have to clean and refill a birdbath within thirty minutes from the time it was cleaned and filled.
Blue Jays are cannibalistic. They will eat other birds. Mainly baby birds. If you have a birdhouse with a tiny ledge above the hole and there are baby birds inside a Blue Jay will sit on top of the roof and grab the babies if they stick their head out of the hole. They will also sit on a birdhouse perch and do this. If the Blue Jay can stick its head inside the hole it will. Once it has the baby bird it will kill it and then eat it. If the Blue Jay is startled while eating the baby then you may find the baby’s head or other body part under the birdhouse. They won’t eat adults. They may fight with adult birds and chase them off but they aren’t trying to eat them.
Blue Jays are tough birds. They will dive at squirrels and peck them. They will dive out of trees and peck cats on the head, neck or back and they will gang up when necessary to drive away what they consider dangerous.
Blue Jays may be mean but they do a lot of good. They protect other birds. They may do this unintentionally but for all the baby birds whose life they have taken they have saved many birds by putting themselves in harms way.
Hawks are cannibalistic birds that have lately been coming into town and killing birds at feeders. When a Hawk is around Blue Jays will cry out and shriek. Blue Jays will gang up on the Hawk and yell at it. They will sit all around the Hawk relatively close. When the Hawk flies from one tree to the next the Blue Jays will follow it as if they are trying to drive it away. They will scream at the Hawk and sit in the branches above its head, to its side, and below its feet ranting and raving even after the Hawk has captured a bird to eat. They will do this as if trying to make the Hawk let go of the bird and well after the bird has been killed and the Hawk is eating it. The cries and shrieks of the Blue Jay are a warning signal to other birds that there is danger. Many birds listen and take heed of the warning.
Blue Jays chase cats away in a similar fashion. Trying to drive danger away and warn other birds that a predator is in the area. When they chase away squirrels they may be saving bird eggs from being eaten by the squirrels since squirrels eat eggs, therefore saving baby birds that haven’t hatched yet.
