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	<title>Comments on: Little Known Fact: Blue Jays are Vicious Carnivores</title>
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		<title>By: Sheila</title>
		<link>http://www.austinriba.com/2008/04/bluejays-are-carnivores/comment-page-1/#comment-2937</link>
		<dc:creator>Sheila</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 15 Aug 2010 02:59:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.fingel.com/?p=86#comment-2937</guid>
		<description>It is NOT true that Blue Jays don&#039;t kill song birds!!!  I had the awesome experience watching 7 baby House Wrens leave the nesting bird house Aug. 9th, 2010 in my back yard.  It was the most thrilling brush with nature I have ever had.....until a Blue Jay attacked and killed one of the baby birds, moments after all the little ones left the bird house and flew into a near by pine tree.  There was lots of chatter with all the baby wrens as well as both male and female wrens.  I climbed the slide next to our swimming pool to view how the little ones were all in the tree with parents.  I was more than shocked to see the Blue Jay holding the little wren down with it&#039;s feet and proceeding to kill it.  I shouted at the Bastard Blue Jay and clapped my hands........away he flew with the little wren.
Don&#039;t tell me that Blue Jays don&#039;t eat song birds.  Perhaps he came back later in the day to kill 3 more because there are only 3 left in
my back yard the rest of this week being fed by their parents.  I guess I may soon purchase a BB/Pellet Gun and look for blue and white in my back yard.  To read about the jays, is one thing, but to see it with my own eyes, was the worst!  Hopefully I will see a pile of Blue Jay feathers and know that it was pay back with the hawks in our area.  Better check your facts Jack, written on July 17th, 2010.
Just call me Annie Oakley with Blue Jays in the site of my gun...  Sheila</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It is NOT true that Blue Jays don&#8217;t kill song birds!!!  I had the awesome experience watching 7 baby House Wrens leave the nesting bird house Aug. 9th, 2010 in my back yard.  It was the most thrilling brush with nature I have ever had&#8230;..until a Blue Jay attacked and killed one of the baby birds, moments after all the little ones left the bird house and flew into a near by pine tree.  There was lots of chatter with all the baby wrens as well as both male and female wrens.  I climbed the slide next to our swimming pool to view how the little ones were all in the tree with parents.  I was more than shocked to see the Blue Jay holding the little wren down with it&#8217;s feet and proceeding to kill it.  I shouted at the Bastard Blue Jay and clapped my hands&#8230;&#8230;..away he flew with the little wren.<br />
Don&#8217;t tell me that Blue Jays don&#8217;t eat song birds.  Perhaps he came back later in the day to kill 3 more because there are only 3 left in<br />
my back yard the rest of this week being fed by their parents.  I guess I may soon purchase a BB/Pellet Gun and look for blue and white in my back yard.  To read about the jays, is one thing, but to see it with my own eyes, was the worst!  Hopefully I will see a pile of Blue Jay feathers and know that it was pay back with the hawks in our area.  Better check your facts Jack, written on July 17th, 2010.<br />
Just call me Annie Oakley with Blue Jays in the site of my gun&#8230;  Sheila</p>
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	<item>
		<title>By: Jack</title>
		<link>http://www.austinriba.com/2008/04/bluejays-are-carnivores/comment-page-1/#comment-2933</link>
		<dc:creator>Jack</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 Jul 2010 03:12:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.fingel.com/?p=86#comment-2933</guid>
		<description>Greetings! Happy to find your site. I would like to point out a couple things though: What you&#039;re seeing here is a **Scrub Jay**, has others have already pointed out. Scrub Jays and Blue Jays are not the same bird, nor do they have the same habits, markings, or diets, although it is very easy to confuse the two. Scrub Jays are not even actual members of the Jay family, they only got the name because of their superficial similarity of appearence to the Blue Jay. Scrub Jays are, as you noted, members of the crow family, and yes they are very aggressive, but even they are not straight-out carnivores. They are omnivores just like you, me, bears, and racoons, etc. That&#039;s just a fancy way of saying they eat anything. Scrub Jays range all across the US and Canada, although they are more common in the west, especially the northwest (Washington, British Columbia, Idaho, Northern Cali, and here in Oregon), they are significantly larger than all members of the Jay family, both sexes lack any sort of crest like a Jay, and they also lack the white banding markings common to Blue Jays. 

Blue Jays do NOT eat the meat of birds and mammals. Yes, they WILL eat the eggs of other birds if they cannot find enough food, but they prefer seeds, seedlings (watch your gardens!), berries and small fruits, and insects (they are great for mosquito control!). In my 28 years of caring for, and watching wild birds I have found that Blue Jays get along great wih other song birds, especially doves and robins. They can get a little aggressive in a food shortage, but that is typical of any species. Blue Jays DO hate mice, and may attack them on sight, noone knows why. Hey, natural pest control!

Scub Jays, on the other hand, will attempt to DOMINATE any territory they set up shop in. I&#039;m currently having difficulty with a family of them myself. They will run off all other birds, attack squirrels, dive bomb your cat, make alot of racket at 4 AM, and be a general nuisance, and yes, they will attempt to kill anything that doesn&#039;t comply with their territorial demands, even YOU. There are only four ways to get rid of Scrub Jays, and no way is 100% effective.
1: Attract as many Hummingbirds as possible to your yard. The two species hate each other and Hummingbirds will not hesitate to attack Scrub Jays (and crows!) especially if they can get a buddy to help. However, it goes both ways, so only employ this method if you are prepared for a full-out war to take place in your backyard and you are willing to deal with the casualties. This method is both difficult and costly, however. It is always difficult to attract large numbers of Hummingbirds, especially since thier numbers are dropping due to our stupidity, and it is a time-consuming method. Remember, you CANNOT allow Hummingbird food (or sugar water) to remain in your feeder for longer than two days, one day in very hot weather. AND, you must throughly clean your feeders EACH time you refill them. Why? because the slightest bit of mold build-up will kill your little friends when they drink. The black mold causes their tongues to swell to the point that they cannot feed, and Hummingbirds must feed several times a day to live. Repeated exposure will cause the tongue to swell to the point of cutting off their airway, which in a Hummingbird leads to guaranteed death in around 40 seconds. Most people either don&#039;t know, or don&#039;t bother with keeping their feeders clean, and this mold can form in less than 48 hours after sun exposure to the food. The whole time you think your doing a nice thing for your feathered friends, you maybe killing them instead.
2: Remove ALL sources of food from your yard. Scrub Jays are lazy birds and will only set up shop in places where they is a ready supply of seed, nuts, insects, or small animals. Remove all birdseed, squrriel food, spray for outdoor insects, and try to convince your neighbors to do the same until the Scrubs have moved on to greener pastures.
3: Soak birdseed, sunflower seeds, and peanuts in a solution made from mouse/rat poison. Get some DECON mouse poison from your local supermarket or home improvement store. Mix four tablespoons of it into 12 ounces of water. Mix well and allow to dissolve as much as possible, leaving it overnight if you must. Make multiple 12 ounce batches if you wish. Pour into a large bowel, mix in seed and peanuts and allow to soak overnight. Drain the next day and allow seed to dry on a layer of papertowels. When seed/peanuts are all dry, dump em in a plastic bowl or whatever and place outside on your porch table or anywhere else Scrub Jays like to feed in your yard. Repeat as required. In a few days, you&#039;ll have dead Scrubs. WARNING: Be mindful of other wildlife when employing this method.
4: &#039;Ye Olde BB/Pellet Gun. Best used in combination with peanuts as bait. In the country I find a scoped Ruger 10/22 works best. More range and greater accuracy. although I HATE to kill things, sometimes you gotta.

Happy Bird Watching!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Greetings! Happy to find your site. I would like to point out a couple things though: What you&#8217;re seeing here is a **Scrub Jay**, has others have already pointed out. Scrub Jays and Blue Jays are not the same bird, nor do they have the same habits, markings, or diets, although it is very easy to confuse the two. Scrub Jays are not even actual members of the Jay family, they only got the name because of their superficial similarity of appearence to the Blue Jay. Scrub Jays are, as you noted, members of the crow family, and yes they are very aggressive, but even they are not straight-out carnivores. They are omnivores just like you, me, bears, and racoons, etc. That&#8217;s just a fancy way of saying they eat anything. Scrub Jays range all across the US and Canada, although they are more common in the west, especially the northwest (Washington, British Columbia, Idaho, Northern Cali, and here in Oregon), they are significantly larger than all members of the Jay family, both sexes lack any sort of crest like a Jay, and they also lack the white banding markings common to Blue Jays. </p>
<p>Blue Jays do NOT eat the meat of birds and mammals. Yes, they WILL eat the eggs of other birds if they cannot find enough food, but they prefer seeds, seedlings (watch your gardens!), berries and small fruits, and insects (they are great for mosquito control!). In my 28 years of caring for, and watching wild birds I have found that Blue Jays get along great wih other song birds, especially doves and robins. They can get a little aggressive in a food shortage, but that is typical of any species. Blue Jays DO hate mice, and may attack them on sight, noone knows why. Hey, natural pest control!</p>
<p>Scub Jays, on the other hand, will attempt to DOMINATE any territory they set up shop in. I&#8217;m currently having difficulty with a family of them myself. They will run off all other birds, attack squirrels, dive bomb your cat, make alot of racket at 4 AM, and be a general nuisance, and yes, they will attempt to kill anything that doesn&#8217;t comply with their territorial demands, even YOU. There are only four ways to get rid of Scrub Jays, and no way is 100% effective.<br />
1: Attract as many Hummingbirds as possible to your yard. The two species hate each other and Hummingbirds will not hesitate to attack Scrub Jays (and crows!) especially if they can get a buddy to help. However, it goes both ways, so only employ this method if you are prepared for a full-out war to take place in your backyard and you are willing to deal with the casualties. This method is both difficult and costly, however. It is always difficult to attract large numbers of Hummingbirds, especially since thier numbers are dropping due to our stupidity, and it is a time-consuming method. Remember, you CANNOT allow Hummingbird food (or sugar water) to remain in your feeder for longer than two days, one day in very hot weather. AND, you must throughly clean your feeders EACH time you refill them. Why? because the slightest bit of mold build-up will kill your little friends when they drink. The black mold causes their tongues to swell to the point that they cannot feed, and Hummingbirds must feed several times a day to live. Repeated exposure will cause the tongue to swell to the point of cutting off their airway, which in a Hummingbird leads to guaranteed death in around 40 seconds. Most people either don&#8217;t know, or don&#8217;t bother with keeping their feeders clean, and this mold can form in less than 48 hours after sun exposure to the food. The whole time you think your doing a nice thing for your feathered friends, you maybe killing them instead.<br />
2: Remove ALL sources of food from your yard. Scrub Jays are lazy birds and will only set up shop in places where they is a ready supply of seed, nuts, insects, or small animals. Remove all birdseed, squrriel food, spray for outdoor insects, and try to convince your neighbors to do the same until the Scrubs have moved on to greener pastures.<br />
3: Soak birdseed, sunflower seeds, and peanuts in a solution made from mouse/rat poison. Get some DECON mouse poison from your local supermarket or home improvement store. Mix four tablespoons of it into 12 ounces of water. Mix well and allow to dissolve as much as possible, leaving it overnight if you must. Make multiple 12 ounce batches if you wish. Pour into a large bowel, mix in seed and peanuts and allow to soak overnight. Drain the next day and allow seed to dry on a layer of papertowels. When seed/peanuts are all dry, dump em in a plastic bowl or whatever and place outside on your porch table or anywhere else Scrub Jays like to feed in your yard. Repeat as required. In a few days, you&#8217;ll have dead Scrubs. WARNING: Be mindful of other wildlife when employing this method.<br />
4: &#8216;Ye Olde BB/Pellet Gun. Best used in combination with peanuts as bait. In the country I find a scoped Ruger 10/22 works best. More range and greater accuracy. although I HATE to kill things, sometimes you gotta.</p>
<p>Happy Bird Watching!</p>
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		<title>By: Jessica</title>
		<link>http://www.austinriba.com/2008/04/bluejays-are-carnivores/comment-page-1/#comment-2924</link>
		<dc:creator>Jessica</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Jul 2010 23:46:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.fingel.com/?p=86#comment-2924</guid>
		<description>I just found your site after googling &quot;blue jays eat mice&quot;.  Had to research since I was sitting on my deck wondering what this Blue Jay kept diving at and pecking at in my yard.  Then I realized it was a field mouse!  Poor thing was running around trying to get away...the Jay was trying to peck it to death!  It flew off and left the mouse half dead. :(</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I just found your site after googling &#8220;blue jays eat mice&#8221;.  Had to research since I was sitting on my deck wondering what this Blue Jay kept diving at and pecking at in my yard.  Then I realized it was a field mouse!  Poor thing was running around trying to get away&#8230;the Jay was trying to peck it to death!  It flew off and left the mouse half dead. <img src='http://www.austinriba.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif' alt=':(' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>By: buy ps4 now</title>
		<link>http://www.austinriba.com/2008/04/bluejays-are-carnivores/comment-page-1/#comment-2904</link>
		<dc:creator>buy ps4 now</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jun 2010 08:48:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.fingel.com/?p=86#comment-2904</guid>
		<description>blue jays are mean.. ive been attacked while running before</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>blue jays are mean.. ive been attacked while running before</p>
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		<title>By: Jeannie</title>
		<link>http://www.austinriba.com/2008/04/bluejays-are-carnivores/comment-page-1/#comment-2886</link>
		<dc:creator>Jeannie</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 29 May 2010 17:31:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.fingel.com/?p=86#comment-2886</guid>
		<description>I hate Blue Jays...very mean. And now I have two of them attacking my cat and squaking all day. I have been squirting them with the hose on full force but that only works momentarily so, tonight my son-in-law is bringing over the BB gun...YES! I would put poison out but don&#039;t want to hurt the other birds. My poor cat has to stay on the back porch today because I would rather hear him meow than to hear those dang Blue Jays squawk all day!!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I hate Blue Jays&#8230;very mean. And now I have two of them attacking my cat and squaking all day. I have been squirting them with the hose on full force but that only works momentarily so, tonight my son-in-law is bringing over the BB gun&#8230;YES! I would put poison out but don&#8217;t want to hurt the other birds. My poor cat has to stay on the back porch today because I would rather hear him meow than to hear those dang Blue Jays squawk all day!!</p>
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		<title>By: Mateo</title>
		<link>http://www.austinriba.com/2008/04/bluejays-are-carnivores/comment-page-1/#comment-2879</link>
		<dc:creator>Mateo</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 May 2010 15:47:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.fingel.com/?p=86#comment-2879</guid>
		<description>I never knew blue jays were cannibals until today. I&#039;m a teacher and had a group of 8th grade students outside for class this morning when two of the girls started screaming. When I discovered what they were upset over, I witnessed a blue jay on top of an adult sparrow pecking it to death. When I tried to scare the blue jay away, it picked up the sparrow, flew into a tree right above my students, ripped the head off the sparrow, and gobbled it down. It then dropped the remainder of the body of the sparrow right into the area the students were sitting. If I didn&#039;t know better, I&#039;d say that bird was possessed or something - it was so purposeful! Thanks for posting this - very informative.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I never knew blue jays were cannibals until today. I&#8217;m a teacher and had a group of 8th grade students outside for class this morning when two of the girls started screaming. When I discovered what they were upset over, I witnessed a blue jay on top of an adult sparrow pecking it to death. When I tried to scare the blue jay away, it picked up the sparrow, flew into a tree right above my students, ripped the head off the sparrow, and gobbled it down. It then dropped the remainder of the body of the sparrow right into the area the students were sitting. If I didn&#8217;t know better, I&#8217;d say that bird was possessed or something &#8211; it was so purposeful! Thanks for posting this &#8211; very informative.</p>
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		<title>By: Marina</title>
		<link>http://www.austinriba.com/2008/04/bluejays-are-carnivores/comment-page-1/#comment-2859</link>
		<dc:creator>Marina</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Apr 2010 20:58:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.fingel.com/?p=86#comment-2859</guid>
		<description>I saw the SAME thing happen yesterday and decided to look it up on the internet! A bluejay decapitated a small dove and ate the head!! It was so morbid!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I saw the SAME thing happen yesterday and decided to look it up on the internet! A bluejay decapitated a small dove and ate the head!! It was so morbid!</p>
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		<title>By: josh</title>
		<link>http://www.austinriba.com/2008/04/bluejays-are-carnivores/comment-page-1/#comment-2151</link>
		<dc:creator>josh</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:42:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.fingel.com/?p=86#comment-2151</guid>
		<description>today at work, as i was smokeing outside, under a birds nest, two deheaded baby birds fell out of there nest. i looked up to see a blue jay popping out of the nest, and sat there looking at me. as soon as i went back inside, the blue jay flew down and picked up one the dead birds and flew off, alil while later the blue jay came back and killed a third bird. nasty lil suckers</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>today at work, as i was smokeing outside, under a birds nest, two deheaded baby birds fell out of there nest. i looked up to see a blue jay popping out of the nest, and sat there looking at me. as soon as i went back inside, the blue jay flew down and picked up one the dead birds and flew off, alil while later the blue jay came back and killed a third bird. nasty lil suckers</p>
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		<title>By: Dead eye Dave</title>
		<link>http://www.austinriba.com/2008/04/bluejays-are-carnivores/comment-page-1/#comment-2150</link>
		<dc:creator>Dead eye Dave</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:10:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.fingel.com/?p=86#comment-2150</guid>
		<description>Yep they are Scrub (stellar) Jays. Ya gotta get tuff and shoot all you see as you will have no other birds around just their excessive unnerving squaking. They even ran off all my Robins which I love to have around. The only amazing thing I saw concerning a natural approach to ridding them was one afternoon I was sitting outside and saw a Scrub Jay diving and flying like he was scared to death,,, what was after him? A Hummingbird!!! It was so manuverable and so fast it just kept jabing the Jay with it&#039;s pointy beak. That Jay did not come back all day. It was the coolest thing. I was standing and rooting for this tiny beauty. So, the moral is,,, encourage as many as possible Hummingbirds and you will run those rottem suckers away. Sign me pissed off in Oregon.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yep they are Scrub (stellar) Jays. Ya gotta get tuff and shoot all you see as you will have no other birds around just their excessive unnerving squaking. They even ran off all my Robins which I love to have around. The only amazing thing I saw concerning a natural approach to ridding them was one afternoon I was sitting outside and saw a Scrub Jay diving and flying like he was scared to death,,, what was after him? A Hummingbird!!! It was so manuverable and so fast it just kept jabing the Jay with it&#8217;s pointy beak. That Jay did not come back all day. It was the coolest thing. I was standing and rooting for this tiny beauty. So, the moral is,,, encourage as many as possible Hummingbirds and you will run those rottem suckers away. Sign me pissed off in Oregon.</p>
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		<title>By: Tom</title>
		<link>http://www.austinriba.com/2008/04/bluejays-are-carnivores/comment-page-1/#comment-2148</link>
		<dc:creator>Tom</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:37:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.fingel.com/?p=86#comment-2148</guid>
		<description>This past Saturday, I heard this bang against my window and looked out to see a poor bird on the ground and to my suprise a scrub jay attacking and killing it to eat.  It flew away with the bird in its mouth.  Like others on this site, I was shocked and had no idea.  Not five minutes later I heard another bang against the window and looked out to see a bird crippled on the floor.  I went to check 5 minutes later and it was gone.  I&#039;m convinced the jay was tricking these birds to run into the window so that it could eat them.  I had to look it up on the web and I think this site confirms it.  Tricky savage little guys...</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This past Saturday, I heard this bang against my window and looked out to see a poor bird on the ground and to my suprise a scrub jay attacking and killing it to eat.  It flew away with the bird in its mouth.  Like others on this site, I was shocked and had no idea.  Not five minutes later I heard another bang against the window and looked out to see a bird crippled on the floor.  I went to check 5 minutes later and it was gone.  I&#8217;m convinced the jay was tricking these birds to run into the window so that it could eat them.  I had to look it up on the web and I think this site confirms it.  Tricky savage little guys&#8230;</p>
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