My OperaBackyard Birds
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 2:30:13 PM
Last evening was nice and cool. So the editor went out to the back step for a bit. It's eiught steps up from the ground, and faces a bricked in backyard with dirt around the edges for flowers and things. There's a large cherry tree overhanging most of the back yard.
As he walks out, a blue jay is in the tree, jumping from limb to limb. Occasionally hitting the deck to grab a piece of cat food. (We feed a couple of fixed feral cats in the evening.) The thing is, the blue jay doesn't leave. They are not shy, but this is unusual.
When the editor sits down, he can see a robin about 30 feet away, working on a large, still wiggling, earthworm. The robin has it out on a brick, and seems to have figrued out that he can't just grab the thing in his beak and take off for home. So he spends several minutes trying to kill and divide the worm. Finally slices off a third, eats that, grabs the rest in his beak and takes off.
The thing is, the blue jay is watching the thing from about ten feet away. The robin doesn't care. When the robin takes off, the jay check to see if any worm is left. There isn't. He follows the robin.
The editor would have thought that the jay would just run the robin off. But he didn't try. So maybe robins are a bit more robust than he thought.
As he walks out, a blue jay is in the tree, jumping from limb to limb. Occasionally hitting the deck to grab a piece of cat food. (We feed a couple of fixed feral cats in the evening.) The thing is, the blue jay doesn't leave. They are not shy, but this is unusual.
When the editor sits down, he can see a robin about 30 feet away, working on a large, still wiggling, earthworm. The robin has it out on a brick, and seems to have figrued out that he can't just grab the thing in his beak and take off for home. So he spends several minutes trying to kill and divide the worm. Finally slices off a third, eats that, grabs the rest in his beak and takes off.
The thing is, the blue jay is watching the thing from about ten feet away. The robin doesn't care. When the robin takes off, the jay check to see if any worm is left. There isn't. He follows the robin.
The editor would have thought that the jay would just run the robin off. But he didn't try. So maybe robins are a bit more robust than he thought.
