Wednesday, October 3, 2007

A Bluejay Morning

While waiting for the vet to return Princess Daisy this morning, I was entertained by the antics of my hungry bluejays.

First of all I lured them in with copious amounts of peanuts in the shell. The bluejays simply cannot resist the lure of peanuts.

Usually they come 1 at a time and sometimes one bluejay would allow another jay to dine at the same time (I'm guessing either siblings or an adult and one of its offspring).

But woe to the unacceptable bluejay who attempts to come and dine with the wrong family! That jay will be turned away in no uncertain terms and must wait its turn in the background.

They're intelligent and amusing birds....some will pick up several peanuts until they decide they've found the largest one while others will pick up a small one and gulp it back as far as they can in an effort to make enough room in their beak to pick up a second peanut.

Sometimes they will stay around and peck the shell open to eat the peanut right away, but in most cases they fly away and hide the peanut somewhere out in the yard. (I found quite a few peanuts buried in the garden while weeding this summer.)

I know a lot of people don't like bluejays--they're loud and bossy. But for me, the action, sounds and pretty blue feathers are what I enjoy about these funny birds (plus my kitty loves to watch them too!)

(And now that I've posted all the pictures of bluejays, I realize I must move that tray over a little bit so future pictures won't have interference from that branch arm holding the suet log!)

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I'm getting into the home post office groove--my new digital scale was delivered today (no more guessing on the weight of those jelly packages when I send them out!) I also received some of the stamps I ordered at www.USPS.gov. Have you seen these new ones?

The "Nature of America" Alpine Tundra is the ninth in the series. I have all the previous ones framed and hanging in my foyer. They're pretty cool stamps with a nature theme.

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And here's our good old girl, Daisy, back from the vet.

She's a little droopy yet, and will be taking pain pills for 5 days plus antibiotics for 9 more days. But, she's eating, drinking, peeing and pooping, so I think she's doing pretty good and we're really happy to have her back home again.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Daisy looks pretty good and in one of her favorite places, in bed, that's all a dog can ask for, well love goes in there too.
Great blue jay pixs, they are so boisterous around here, I can hear them all the time. They are the comedians of the yard.
MOM

Anonymous said...

Last week we made the front page of the Spring Valley paper and today the last page, yep, you better look. There are a lot of nice pixs from the Fall Fest.

Mary said...

So glad Daisy is home. I think you will note a nice change in her, Ruthie. Bad teeth affect them in so many ways.

I miss Blue Jays! In Baltimore City, we had flocks of them that used to attack our cat. Nasty birds but I love watching them. Since being in NC, I've only seen a few and none of them in my neighborhood. Hey, if I can deal with hormonal Mockingbirds, Blue Jays won't be so bad :o)

Those are great pics of a bird I rarely see.

Maud said...

Beautiful birds!
And I'm happy for Daisy, and wish her a fast recovery.

Jayne said...

I like the blue jays too Ruthie. How fun to watch them eat the peanuts!
Beautiful stamps... I need to order some more myself. Glad Daisy is back home and feeling some better.

Ruth said...

I rarely see Bluejays any more and I wonder why. They used to come to my feeder frequently, but I haven't had one for at least 2 years in my yard.

RuthieJ said...

Hi Mom,
Daisy's doing good....it was nice to sleep with her curled up next to me again.

Our mail comes around 10, so I'll check out your pictures in the paper.

Hi Mary,
When I worked at Wild Birds Unlimited lots of people used to come in and complain about too many bluejays. Since I started putting peanuts out just for them, that helped a lot to keep them away from the other birdfeeders.

And I like your mockingbird pictures, because that's a bird I've never seen!

Thank you Maud, We're going to take good care of Daisy.

Hi Jayne,
I'm glad you like bluejays too. I don't think they're intentionally mean....just big and loud around the feeders and littler birds are easily scared away.

I pay most of my bills online now, so don't need many stamps, but these were too pretty to pass up.

Hi Ruth,
I'm sorry to hear about your bluejays.....how about crows or ravens? Do you have many of those anymore? Many Bluejays (and other corvids) have succumbed to West Nile Virus. A couple years ago my bluejay population was down, but they seem to have rebounded pretty well.

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

I sure am glad to hear that Daisy is home and doing well. That must be a big relief for you.
I love jays too. They are so clever.

Mary C said...

Hi Ruthie - I just wanted to comment that the blue jay's cousin, the western scrub jay - at least I think they are cousins - does the same thing in our backyard. We love to put peanuts out in a platform feeder (up high enough to keep the squirrels out). And I love watching how they have to check out each peanut before deciding on the right one. I love watching them. As for the squirrels, they have their own little feeder full of peanuts, too.
Those are cool looking stamps. I'll have to check on them the next time I order stamps online - the only way to go. I can't imagine standing in line just to purchase stamps - such a waste of time.
And I'm so glad to see Daisy is home, happy to be on her favorite bed and sleeping next to her favorite caretaker. ;-)

KGMom said...

Welcome home, Daisy.

RuthieJ said...

Hi Lynne,
I don't think Daisy has forgiven us yet for letting the vet take her though.....

Hi Mary C,
I remember seeing the Western Scrub Jays when visiting my brother in California. They seemed much larger than my bluejays and not quite as noisy. They had such pretty blue feathers also. It's worth the price of peanuts to watch them put on such a show, isn't it?

Thanks Donna. We're sure glad Daisy's back too.

Larry said...

I love Blue Jays!-and that is one Happy Blue Jay!