Today's downpour kept me indoors, watching my feeders on and off throughout the day. At about 2:30 this afternoon, a "screaming" bird drew me quickly to the window, in time to see a WESTERN SCRUB JAY using its feet to hold down a struggling female HOUSE FINCH while plucking its chest feathers, finally killing it, and beginning to eat it. At that point my objectivity left me and I left the window, nauseated. I returned a few minutes later, to find both had disappeared. I searched both online and through my bird books to find the WESTERN SCRUB JAY's feeding preferences described as omnivorous. One reference did include eggs and nestlings in the WESTERN SCRUB JAY's diet, but none mentioned small, adult birds. Has anyone else observed or read about WESTERN SCRUB JAYs feeding on adult birds?
Dotty Calabrese
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