Are you positively obsessed with seeing birds visit your yard every once in a while?
We are too!
These wild birds are just so pleasing to see, hear, and take care of. This is why almost anyone would want to know the secret in attracting beautifully plumaged birds like hummingbirds and blue jays to their yard.
Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
Why You’d Want Blue Jays In Your Yard
No one would deny that Blue Jays have astonishingly beautiful plumage and that they make fascinating sounds too. But aside from those, these birds can also help you with your yard difficulties.
Blue Jays need to feed on insects much more than other birds do. Some people think of them as natural pest controls since they’d probably be finishing all the pests in your yard in a night. This doesn’t only rid you of the need for pesticides but also helps them maintain a balanced diet and keeps them exercised.
They are also prone to chasing away predators, so if you were to display a bunch of bird seeds on the ground, the blue jays would make sure that no one steals a stash of it. You’d be shocked to find them taunting away cats and scaring other predators by mimicking hawk sounds.
What Food They Like
Nuts
Blue Jays are undeniably obsessed with nuts, in the shell or not. Because of their strong bills, these birds don’t mind if you offer them hard acorns or shelled nuts, it would really give them a hard time to crack them anyways.
Offering them unsalted and roasted nuts is the best option. You can try to offer them peanut wreaths or even just pine cones covered in peanut butter too.
Do not give them a huge serving of these to avoid them gulping them down all at the same time or too fast. Make sure that the nuts are not flavored or seasoned and that they don’t sprout either.
Tiny Omnivores
As mentioned earlier, they are omnivorous, and that doesn’t just mean that they feast on invertebrates only, but also bird eggs, baby birds, and frogs too. If you wouldn’t want to catch them doing this, then you should probably rethink attracting them to your yard.
But if you don’t really mind, you can attract them by having a bunch of caterpillars, grasshoppers, and tiny insects like flies or mosquitos. This would eventually mean that you’d need to secure your doors and windows so that the insects don’t enter your house and bug you.
Sunflower Seeds
Aside from nuts, they would also go crazy for sunflower seeds. This means that they don’t really care whether the seeds are in the shell or not, or whether they’re black-oil or stripped. Any would do!
Corn
They like both whole kernel corn or the cracked ones. It would be entertaining to watch them eat these as they tend to fit at least ten of them in their mouth all at the same time.
Other Food
You can provide them a mix of bird food consisting of nuts, insects, and small fruits like elderberries, blackberries, berries, and cherries. It is also a good idea to buy them suet cakes and mealworms.
What Feeder To Use
Blue Jays are larger than the songbirds you usually see in your yard, they are usually 9-12 inches long and weigh 2-3.5 ounces. Which is why they can barely fit most bird feeders.
They need larger, sturdier, and comfortable feeders that come with good perches. They favor feeders that are not only large but the ones that have a wide-open space too.
It is important to choose a stable ground and pole, blue jays are heavy, so if you think your feeder is sturdy enough, you may want to check again. If ever your feeder sways, moves, or restricts them from jumping and moving around, they’ll probably just ignore it.
The best types of feeders for them are hopper, platform, and open trays. But they would also favor suet, spring, and mesh feeders too.
However, if you would still like to see tiny birds visit your yard and feed on your feeders, you need to buy them small ones like tube feeders so that blue jays would not try to occupy them.
If you’re having a hard time deciding what feeder to buy or you just don’t want to spend too much time choosing, you can check out all the options here for the best feeders that will surely help you on your quest.
Where To Place Your Feeder
Close Or Very Far From A Window
You could say that bird feeders are the safest when they’re close to a window. Millions of birds hit windows when they take off, which can lessen their chance of survival, or worse, kill them.
You should position your feeder not farther than 3 feet from your window or even just attach it to the window frame itself if you could. Positioning the feeder not lesser than 30 feet away from a window would do too.
Near Shelter
It is best to place the feeder near a tree or a shrub where they can easily hide or rest.
Birds are prone to be attacked and harmed by predators, cats, and rodents when they are busy enjoying the treats on your feeder. So you need to take precautions in avoiding these creatures, especially squirrels, from harming them.
Away From Direct Sunlight
You wouldn’t want them to be burned in the heat while trying to eat the treats you offered them. As if they would though, if your feeder is in direct sunlight, the food and piercing places would be too hot to them which is not attractive at all.
More Feeder Tips
Supply Food Continuously
It’s quite surprising to find out how strong the memory of a blue jay is. They remember which feeders they last fed from and which ones they liked the most. So if you only fill your feeders every once in a while, they’ll think of it as an inconsistent source which will cause them to find a more reliable one and never come back to yours.
On the other hand, if you keep the stocks running, they would most likely visit it every day and remember that specific feeder no matter where else you place it.
Feeder Hygiene
Feeders and birdbaths spread bird diseases faster than the birds themselves do. And I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t want to accidentally harm them and all the other birds near you.
To prevent this, you should scrub your feeders every three days and soak them in a solution of vinegar water at least once a month. Aside from that, you should not fill your feeders if they won’t be able to finish them, it should only be one days’ worth of food. Any bird droppings or old, spoiling, or even just prone to spoiling food should be removed and immediately thrown away.
