It’s no secret that Facebook is rife with links to a lot of really dumb articles. Many of the links are either clickbait or gateways to completely useless drivel. 

I learned a long time ago to not even bother clicking on the links because they inevitably lead to disappointment. But, I came across an article on Facebook the other day that I just had to click on. The headline for the post read, “Why You Should Avoid Inviting Blue Jays into Your Yard.”

I know some people have issues with blue jays, but I had never seen an article devoted to keeping blue jays out of people’s backyards. I’ve seen plenty of articles on how to keep squirrels, bears, house sparrows and grackles away from feeders, but never blue jays.

Blue Jays are strikingly beautiful birds and native to the U.S. Why would anyone want to keep blue jays away from feeders?

I understand that blue jays are one of the many “bully birds” that can take over feeders and prevent smaller birds such as chickadees, titmice and nuthatches from getting a spot at the feeder. In my experience, however, blue jays do not harass other birds. They simply fly up to a feeder, grab a peanut or some seeds, and go on their way. Grackles, on the other hand, will approach a feeder in great numbers and remain on the feeder for a long time, keeping other “desirable” birds on the sidelines waiting.

I was curious to see how the linked article was going to suggest keeping blue jays away from feeders. Blue jays are agile and can perch on pretty much any type of feeder, and their diet is varied so offering certain types of food won’t keep them away either. Prior to reading the article, the only way I could think of was to use one of the feeders that are either weighted or caged to prevent bigger birds from utilizing it.

The article, as it turns out, was even worse than I expected. The author had a real problem with blue jays. Instead of appreciating the blue, black and white plumage as beautiful or amazing, the article refers to the plumage as “imposing.” The article also lumps blue jays in with cowbirds, grackles and starlings as “birds you do not want to be seeing in your yard.”

The part that really bugged me about the article is that it quoted John James Audubon as writing blue jays are known for “selfishness, duplicity, and malice.” That’s all fine and good to quote Audubon, but the article adds that the “birding community has widely adopted this perspective.”

I consider myself (and everyone who reads this column) as part of the birding community, and I certainly do not share the perspective that blue jays are undesirable and birds to be eliminated from backyards. I’ve been writing this column for close to 30 years, and I’ve received thousands of emails from readers sharing their own thoughts on birds. I can count on one finger the number of readers who expressed a desire to keep blue jays out of their yards.

If you are interested, the article suggests discouraging blue jays by using feeders designed to keep large birds away (as predicted), changing the type of seed offered (also as predicted) and setting up a separate feeding station for blue jays offering the things they like the most, such as peanuts.

I’ve always liked blue jays, so perhaps I went into the article without an open mind. Blue jays were also my dad’s favorite bird and that always gave them a soft spot in my heart as well. But to be honest, I’ve never witnessed a gang of blue jays chasing away the smaller birds to the point that those birds disappeared. The article states that if you have blue jays, you’re likely to not have other types of birds in your yard as well. In my experience anyway, that’s simply not true.

I think most backyard birders, myself included, are guilty of favoring some birds over others to the point of trying to exclude certain birds or animals from enjoying the free feast. House sparrows and gray squirrels come to mind. I’ve rapped on a window many times to chase away swarms of house sparrows or persistent gray squirrels.

But all of the birds and animals that visit feeders are doing what all living things do: trying to survive. In a perfect world, we could pick and choose what birds visit our feeders, but that is not the world we live in. Yes, to a certain extent we can limit some birds from visiting by using specialized feeders or certain types of food, but if a hungry bird or animal is determined enough to get some food, it is going to get some food.

Blue jays may have their downsides (yes, I know they sometimes eat eggs or baby birds), but my thought has always been to appreciate native birds, regardless of any preconceived notions one may have of them. Blue jays have been part of the native landscape far longer than the advent of backyard bird feeding, and they are part of the natural cycle of our ecology. To me anyway, to try to deter them from feeders just seems ridiculous.