Re: [SBB] Western Scrub Jay Kills and Eats House Finch at Feeder

[Nancy Teater <[[email protected]]>]

Should we be judgmental about jays? My guess is he was pretty hungry with
the bad weather and got lucky (for him). I save my disgust for starlings,
though I wouldn't be happy if one of my two resident jays went after
"my" finches.
Nancy

At 11:37 AM 1/4/2006 -0600, David Kutilek wrote:

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Dotty,
 
YES,  the exact same situation occurred last year on our back yard patio in Morgan Hill... as we watched a WESTERN SCRUB JAY similarly kill a LESSER GOLDFINCH... in the same manner... I was surprised and disgusted as well, but as you pointed out...  the books say these birds will eat anything.
 
Dave
 

-----Original Message-----

From: [[email protected]] [mailto:[[email protected]]] On Behalf Of [[email protected]]

Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 2:54 PM

To: [[email protected]]

Subject: [SBB] Western Scrub Jay Kills and Eats House Finch at Feeder

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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--
Nancy R. Teater, Hamilton Communications
[[email protected]]   
phone 650.321.0252  fax 650.491.3878

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