5 Ways to Prevent Blue Jays in Your Yard
Blue Jays are beautiful birds but are known to be a nuisance causing noisy commotions when visiting bird feeders, they will bully and chase other birds away. These birds are highly territorial and will stay around as long as food is made available. There are believed to be 17 million blue jays worldwide, their natural habitats are the pine wood of Florida to the spruce-fir forests of north Ontario. Their preference also includes deciduous forest areas and mixed wood but especially oak trees. They’re common in urban and suburban areas, especially where oaks or bird feeders are found. Blue jays diets consist of seeds, insects, nuts, and grains.
Blue Jays will sometimes raid or rob the nest of other bird species of their eggs and their nestlings, they have also been known to take small vertebrates that are injured or dead. Blue Jays build their nests in the crotch or thick outer branches of a deciduous or coniferous tree, usually 10-25 feet above the ground. Males and females both gather materials to build their nests. The life expectancy of blue jays is about seven years, if you have an issue with blue jays visiting your yard and you want to prevent them this guide will equip you with what you need to know to lessen their presence.
1. Give Blue Jays a Peanut Treat
District blue jays from your bird feeder by providing them with a separate bird feeder that is full of peanuts that has the shell, place the bird feeder a great distance from the other bird feeder. Because of the blue jays’ love for peanuts, they will be distracted leaving the other feeder alone that will be enjoyed by other birds. This trick will have the jays busy working trying to remove the peanut from the shell to eat which frees the other birds as they enjoy their seeds free from the blue jay.
2. Chase Blue Jays with Wind Chimes
Although considered bullies of the garden blue jays are afraid of noises, hanging wind chimes that are large near your bird feeder will help in scaring blue jays away.
3. Us CDs or DVDs
Tie several CDs or DVDs with strings and hang each CD or DVD from tree branches where blue jays rest or are congregating, this should scare them away.
4. Use Fake Animals
The use of fake or decoy animals will deter blue jays, and place decoy animals such as snakes, owls, or cats strategically around your lawn.
5. Install smaller bird feeders
Installing bird feeders that are small for example feeders for finches will help to reduce the number of blue jays that visit your yard.
The Benefits of Having Blue Jays in Your Garden
Although we’re looking at how to get rid of blue jays out of your yard the flip side of the coin is blue jays can be beneficial.
1. The presence of blue jays in your garden will control garden insect pests for example snails, bugs, slugs, grasshoppers, spiders, beetles, caterpillars, millipedes, and mice that blue jays use as a food source.
2. The loud sounds that blue jays make will warn other birds of predators that are approaching.
Conclusion
Blue jays can become a real problem to birds visiting your yard but the good news is this guide will help you to prevent blue jays from your yard, why should you allow these birds to be the bully in your garden when you can create a blue jay free-zone by following this guide. These safe methods to scare blue jays away or distract them will send them on their way. I am sure both you and your other feathered friends will be glad that you implemented these proven methods.
