Archive for August, 2008
What The Bluejay Figured Out
August 26th, 2008
Anyone who’s been to my house probably considers me the “crazy bird lady” on the block. It’s almost true, I probably spend way too much time feeding and observing the birds here, but this week, the bluejays taught me something: if you find something special, broadcast it only if you want everyone to know about it and use it all up.
Case in point: I have a hanging peanut tray and the bluejays love it. Generally when I fill it, they carry on, making noise for all their friends, letting the entire neighborhood know about the restocking of said tray. What often happens, though, is squirrels and grackles also show up, and these varmints are wasteful and tend to bully the jays away. The grackles will also bully smaller birds off all the other feeders and basically take over the entire property. The peanuts are gone, the birds are gone, the yard is quiet. Yuck.
Today was different. The jays watched as the crazy lady refilled the feeders, but this time, not a peep. Instead, they must have flown around to trees in the area and “told the others”, as they each started showing up, no sign of grackles, much to my delight and likely to the delight of all the other birds.
What’s the lesson? Be careful who you tell about your most prized resources, lest you want your booty plundered. If you don’t protect your intellectual property, you could run out of peanuts.
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