Saw a blue jay lose its mind over a reflection in my car mirror last Tuesday

I was parked at the grocery store lot off Highway 42 and this blue jay kept dive-bombing the passenger side mirror. Must have done it 15 times, pecking at itself. Some guy walking by said they think it's a rival bird. Never had that happen before. Anybody else have birds go after random stuff around your house?

3 comments

3 Comments

ellis.leo14d ago

Oh man, that brings back memories! I had a robin that spent a whole week attacking the red reflectors on my neighbor's truck. Drove us both crazy, the neighbor kept finding bird poop all over the driver side door. What finally worked was I taped a piece of cardboard over the spot for a few days. The bird got bored and moved on, then I took the cardboard off and it never came back. Sometimes they just need to lose interest on their own.

the_lee14d agoMost Upvoted

That cardboard trick is genius, stuff like that gets birds locked in a loop. My neighbor had a woodpecker that kept hammering on his metal gutter downspout every morning at 6am, drove the whole block nuts. Finally he hung up an old CD on a string and the light flashes scared the bird off for good.

mila_murphy2113d ago

Oh, I have to disagree with you there. Birds aren't dumb animals that get "locked in a loop" like some kind of broken toy. They're smart creatures that are responding to their instincts. That woodpecker was probably just trying to find food or mark its territory, not cause trouble. Instead of scaring it off with shiny objects, maybe your neighbor could have figured out what was actually attracting it in the first place. A little patience and understanding would go a lot further than hanging up CDs like some kind of bird boogeyman.