killer blue jays (2 Viewers)

[jill_on]

Perhaps some one can tell me if this is normal behaviour for blue jays as I have never seen them act like this before. WE have had blue jay nests in the garden before and I know they are protective of their young.This morning my husband saw a blue jay kill a sparrow , we chased it of and disposed of the remains. Later we found awing and a few feathers again from a sparrow. this afternoon as we were about to drive away we saw the jay killing yet another sparrow and as we watched it started tearing it apart. When we returned home we lokked and all that we found were a few feathers. Our cat and ancient creature was not oustside at the time. The nest is in aspruce tree by our van and not very high up and I can see the young bird in the nest. sounds like the start of a hitchcock movie I am wondering if I will be next.I have never heard of jays acting like cannibals before . Can anyone tell me if this normal

 

[Katy Penland]

Hi, Jill! A warm welcome to you from all of us on staff here at BirdForum!

I'm afraid being a westerner I don't know anything about Blue Jay behavior, but I'm sure someone will be along shortly who can fill us all in. But it does sound like typical territorial/nest defense. Is the jay actually eating the sparrows or just making sure they're well and truly dead?

 

[jill_on]

We are sure it is eating it as nothing remains. We have only found bits of two birds the third one we chsed the jay away and disposed of the remains. It is a vicious attack and I have never seen them do this before

 

[anyrange]

Jill,
My son asked me this morining if I have ever seen a Blue Jay attack other birds. He watched a Blue Jay attach, kill, and eat a sparrow today.