How to attract Blue Jays and are they mean birds?

A blue Jay taking advantage of a bird bath. Their territorial habits have resulted in them being unfairly labelled as mean birds.

Blue Jays rebound after severe hit from West Nile

They’re loud, arrogant, boisterous bullies, and some may even consider them mean. But most bird lovers are happy when they see them at the feeders or, better yet, nesting in their backyard.

Not everyone, however.

Like some family members, blue jays arrive, make a lot of noise, steal all your food, hang out for longer than you want them sometimes and then leave without as much as a thank you.

Blue Jays have returned to our backyards after a couple of lean years caused by a multitude of deaths resulting from West Nile disease that hit Blue Jays hard.

And nothing could make me happier.

If you are looking to attract Blue Jays to your yard, take a minute to check out my post on my two favourite Blue Jay feeders.

Back when West Nile emerged in the late 1990s into the 2000s, dead crows and blue jays provided early warning of the outbreak. In the year 2007, research by the journal Nature warned that populations of seven species of birds, including robins, blue jays and crows showed “dramatic decline” across the continent since West Nile emerged in the U.S. in 1999. The research compared 26 years of bird breeding surveys to arrive at the results. The report stated that the disease, primarily an avian virus spread by mosquito bites, killed hundreds of thousands of crows and jays.

The virus targeted seven species – American crow, blue jay, tufted titmouse, American robin, house wren, chickadee and Eastern bluebird. Only the blue jay and house wren were able to bounce back in 2005.

Six Blue Jays raid the bird feeder especially the seed cylinder which is, without a doubt, their favourite. For more on the seed cylinder, see an earlier blog post on my 5 best bird buys.

Earlier this summer I had nine – count’em nine – blue jays on my birdfeeder at once. A few more in the trees scattered throughout our woodland and another making itself at home in one of the birdbaths.

Then they spotted an owl way up in a tree and all hell broke loose for about five minutes until the owl flew off into some denser foliage.

One thing I can honestly say is that there is never a dull moment with these guys around.

And people love to see their colourful plumage in their backyards. These intelligent and adaptable birds that grow to about a foot long will feed on pretty much anything in our backyard landscapes, but are certainly very happy helping themselves at our bird feeders.

Blue Jay in crab apple. Blue Jays are very territorial birds that has resulted in a reputation for being a “mean” bird.

Are Blue Jays mean birds?

Blue Jays have gained a reputation in many circles for being mean birds, not only around the bird feeders but in their natural surroundings.

This reputation is probably the result of their loud rambunctious vocals as well as the the fact that they can be very territorial during nesting season and even around a bird feeder or bird bath.

At the bird feeder you will often find them visiting as a family group in large numbers. Their sheer size, rambunctious attitude and loud calls often force smaller, more timid birds to move on, leaving the feed for the Blue Jays to feast on all on their own.

Blue Jays’ long, sharp beaks also make them a formidable foe against even larger woodpeckers at our cylinder feeders.

It’s not hard to see how they have earned the reputation for being mean birds.

But most of their aggressive nature is the result of four factors:

• Protecting their nest

• Protecting a food source which includes a bird feeder

• Protecting their fledglings either on the nest or near the nest

• Protecting their flock when resting (bathing/feeding)

Yes, blue jays are territorial but they have to be to protect themselves.

Their aggressive approach to any raptor that decides to come into their territory is another example of how “mean” these birds can appear. Blue jays fear raptors but will – together with crows – aggressively harass a hawk or owl that wanders into their area, not backing off until the raptor moves on.

But Blue Jays have earned the reputation of being “mean” birds for more than just their bravado around the feeders and when raptors appear near their nests.

Blue Jays can seem downright mean in our eyes when they aggressively protect their nests and even bird feeders. They’ve even been know to attack humans who get too close to their babies on their nests. You may not realize you have invaded their territory and just think the birds are being extremely aggressive.

Blue Jays can also be very aggressive toward garden snakes, which is another reason they have earned a bad reputation.

Blue Jays are also known to eat other birds’ babies as well as frogs, which probably has not helped their reputations.

Blue jays have full repertoire of calls and sounds

These guys are not limited to their ear piercing raucous calls of jay, Jay, jay. Their repertoire includes a variety of musical sounds and they can apparently do a remarkably realistic imitation of the scream of a Red-shouldered Hawk. They’ve also been known to try to imitate humans on ocassion.

Often times I hear odd sounds and expect to see a rare bird emerge from the tree, only to find that the unusual sounds are from a blue jay. They can certainly communicate in a number of voices.

Blue Jays are among our more colourful and boisterous backyard birds.

What Blue Jays eat

The birds are omnivorous, with vegetables, fruits and berries making up more than 70 per cent of their diet, including beechnuts, acorns, seeds, grain and, of course, a variety of berries and small fruits like service berries and dogwood berries.

They can be seen foraging in trees and shrubs as well as on the ground. Their large, strong beaks allow them to pound open hard nuts and seeds like acorns, which they harvest and store in holes in the ground for later use.

Needless to say they help plant many an oak tree in our forests and our own backyard landscapes.

Being opportunists, as summer progresses, they also like to feast on caterpillars, beetles and grasshoppers, but they’ll also eat snails, spiders other birds’ eggs, small rodents like mice, frogs, baby birds and carrion.

Just a reminder that using native plants and trees in our backyard landscape designs, including oak, dogwood, serviceberries and chokecherries are always a good idea.

Where Blue Jays nest

Both Blue Jay parents take part in feeding the nestlings who spend about 17-21 days in the nest before going out on their own. Blue Jay eggs, between 3-7, are greenish or buff, sometimes pale blue, spotted with hints of brown and gray. Incubation is about 16-18 days.

Look for nests anywhere from about eight feet to as high as 50 feet above the ground, made up of twigs, grass, weeds, bark strips and moss. They can be quite messy often lined with rootlets combined with paper, old rags, string and other debris found in urban areas.

Their range is large, stretching north well into eastern Canada and as far west as Alberta and down south to Florida. Although they are common at our bird feeders year round, many do migrate during the day further south.

They are in the same family as Crows and Magpies and are found throughout eastern oak and pine forests where they breed in deciduous or mixed woods and is often quite common in heavily wooded suburbs or parks.

Climate change is increasing the blue Jays’ range farther north in Canada, but, at the same time, spring heat waves are diminishing their range slightly because of the heat threatening young nestlings in hotter parts of both the U.S. and Canada.