Subject: Blue jays eating all our other birds' food
Date: Oct 15 20:18:46 2000
From: JoolieP at aol.com - JoolieP at aol.com


Hello, Tweeters,

I'm relatively new to this "birding" thing, so please bear with me.

We live on 8 acres in deer & elk country, half-way between Portland & the
coast. We get lots of friendly visitors ... and some not so friendly. Every
other day, I put almost 2 lbs of birdseed out on our sundeck (railing &
table), and the small birds come in droves. But as soon as the blue jays
come, all the other birds disappear. They're so aggressive, it seems all
we're really doing is feeding the blue jays.

One of the locals told me that blue jays were not originally in the Pacific
Northwest -- that they were brought in from somewhere else in the country --
and that due to their presence, other bird families have actually become
extinct because the blue jays took all their food. Is there any truth to
this rumor? Also, how do we prevent blue jays from "taking over" while
encouraging smaller birds to keep coming?

Thanks for your help.

Julie Pruitt
Gaston, OR