Recently my husband watched as a cocky Steller’s Jay perched on the roof of a small birdhouse we have on a tall pole in the backyard that sparrows nest in every year. The raucous troublemaker kept reaching down and poking its long beak into the hole in the front trying to get at the terrified babies nesting inside. It managed only to pull out bits and pieces of the nesting material and tossing them into the wind. Wait a minute…..that last piece….was that bright pink? And the next piece – bright turquoise?? Well I’ll be! It looks like this little mama sparrow had found my tray of nesting materials put out earlier in the spring and happily borrowed some of the short pieces of bright pink and turquoise yarn I had included. Take a look at my post from April 30, 2013 for some pictures of what I prepared.
After deciding that those little babies were too difficult to pursue, or else the Jay felt the fun was over, it started foraging on the ground and dug up a walnut no doubt buried by a squirrel and proceeded to crack that open instead. You can see it first with the whole walnut and then with it cracked open by its feet.
Try setting out some nesting materials and include items that could be easily identified from a distance – you too may be pleasantly surprised! Make sure you comment on my post if it works for you too. Good luck!