My visiting jays have moved on. Back to more manageable numbers; three to

be precise.



There was *not* a lot of red oak acorn production this past fall—we had a

mast year fall of 2017. I imagine there was a lot of blue jay production

last spring (like there were for gray squirrels and chipmunks) and that

Northern New England winter 2018 could not support those jay numbers, so

they cleared out . . . and now they're headed back north.



A thought . . .



On Fri, May 10, 2019 at 8:50 AM Jane Stein <[log in to unmask]> wrote:



> This thread is fascinating.  I've also had a sudden influx of Bluejays,

> not as many as other people are reporting, but way more than I usually

> have, maybe a dozen instead of the usual three or four.  Thanks for the

> suggestion, Martha, about throwing some seed on the ground to at least

> partly divert them from the feeders.

>

> Jays often go south in large numbers when the nut crop is skimpy, and

> what's going on now may be all those hungry fellows coming back home?  Just

> a guess!

>

> Jane Stein

> (Shoreham)

>

> On Fri, 10 May 2019 12:41:03 +0000, Martha Pfeiffer

> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> > The past four days my feeder and yard have been swamped by Jays.

> Finally

> > started referring to them as the Blue Pigs.Never before have I had so

> many

> > for so long.  I have other feeder birds hanging in the wings just

> waiting

> > to get on the feeder without much success.  I have started throwing out

> > seed on the ground which attracts the Jays and keeps them some what off

> the

> > feeder.  Hoping they will move on soon, like today!

> >   Martha Pfeiffer - Dorset

>