Letter: Just Another Day at the Old Watering Hole

Submitted by Aaron Arkin.

The Flying Hungarian Trapeze and Tumbling Circus visited my birdbath this morning with two new events on the bill: The Stellar Jay/Scrub Jay Smack down; and the Black Capped Chickadee Strafing Run.

The first event occurred when a Stellar Jay and a Scrub Jay arrived at the birdbath at the same time. Given the Stellar Jays’ notorious rambunctiousness (I’ve seen them harass Squirrels), I expected it to prevail on the question of who gets to take a bath. But the Scrub Jay was much more aggressive and made short work of the encounter, sending the Stellar Jay flying (literally).

The second event was occasioned by the fact that the Scrub Jay didn’t want to relinquish his (or her) bath, tossing out so much water by its exertions that I thought there would be none left. Apparently, this was noted by several Black Capped Chickadees who flew in a somewhat agitated state around the yard. The denouement came when one male Chickadee came in flying low and fast at the birdbath, braking with a last second climb, startling the Jay who jumped and surprising the Chickadee, both of whom flew away at the same time in opposite directions.

While all this was going on, a Hummingbird was hovering over and darting around these events. I suspect it was engaged in some type of refereeing. Later I went out to check on the birdbath water. It was clean (surprising) and there was a lot left (also surprising). I decided to change it out anyway. There are a lot of avian illnesses about. I know my visitors would be grateful.