The Backyard Bird Wars

Well, spring has sprung!The grass is growing, the trees are budding and the two rival gangs of birds, the Robins and Blue Jays, are setting up camp in my backyard for another year of "Turf War".

While I understand that nature as a whole is violent, this annual turf war even takes me by surprise. I think I am partly to blame as I have a bird feeder in the yard. However, I assumed when I put up the bird feeder a few years back that that all bird species would learn to co-exist peacefully with each other as they enjoyed the free buffet. I thought wrong.

I learned almost immediately after I put up the bird feeder the first year that blue jays and robins do not like each other.Unfortunately, this demonstration came at the expense of my scared-to-death-of-anything-that-moves-or-makes-a-sound mutt, LuLu, who happened to get in between one of the bird altercations.

Before I go any further, let me explain LuLu. She was a rescue puppy. The rescue believed that her litter had been abused. Bravery is not her thing. She is not a watch dog and makes no pretenses at being a watch dog. She takes off for cover if there is a remote possibility of thunder, fire works, loud voices, TV sports cheering of any kind, the rustling of plastic bags and cell phone text messages. She is a true wimp.

It was a beautiful, sunny, spring day and LuLu was out rolling in the grass near the new bird feeder. At that time, my German Shepherd, Miss Muffie, was still among us and she was sitting under a shade tree on the opposite side of the yard. My husband and I were cleaning out our gardens preparing the beds for planting.

I started to hear loud chirps.I looked up at the bird feeder and I saw a robin enjoying the seed in the feeder.On the fence post next to the feeder, there were two blue jays trying to intimidate the robin.They wanted that robin to move off the feeder.As if sensing danger for their fellow robin, two more robins flew in and sat next to their friend on the other side of the feeder. Then the squawking got louder and louder, and I knew we were in for trouble.

More blue jays flew in and then some sparrows came and perched on the fence. A male and female cardinal took a position on the cable wire that stretched through my yard. It was at that moment that the rumble medley from West Side Story started running through my head. I could swear I could hear throughout the squawking "The Jets are gonna have their day tonight! The Jets are gonna have their way tonight!"

There is a chance I might have been wrong about the birds singing West Side Story, but I was in panic mode. I dropped my hoe and bounded up the yard to get LuLu out of harm's way. Yes, the combatants were there; the spectators were there; and my poor LuLu was smack in the middle looking like a deer in the headlights. She did not know what to do or where to go; so, she just squatted and pooped.

Then the birds started literally fighting. They fought on the feeder, they fought on the ground, they dive bombed each other. I was amazed. How could such beautiful creatures be so cruel to fellow birds? Isn't there some kind of loyalty oath they take? Shouldn't they save this fighting energy for the squirrels who also tried to eat from the feeder?

Sensing that LuLu was in trouble, Miss Muffie darted from her shady retreat - barking as she ran to the center of the confrontation.For one brief moment in time, it seemed as if LuLu, Miss Muffie and the birds were all intertwined in one big nature brawl. Finally, LuLu regained her senses and took off like a shot and ran under the table that sat under my covered porch. Now on her own, Miss Muffie continued barking and growling. The commotion frightened the hell out of the blue jays because they retreated to the tree branches above. They squawked for a while but they did not come back down. When it was all over, the robins were victorious. They had taken the bird feeder that day. They had won that rumble.

The next day, everyone was back and scrambling for the food in the feeder as if the brawl the day before had not occurred. But, I have to admit that things were calmer.There was now almost a pecking order.The cardinals seemed to get first dibs at the food, then the robins came and when the blue jays arrived, the robins left.The poor sparrows just waited until there was a break at the feeder. Then they swarmed in and ate as fast as they could before the other birds came back.

And LuLu -ah, yes, LuLu.It took her three days to go out and poop on her own. I had to walk in the yard with her. She was very unnerved.I have learned three things from this experience:1) While blue jays and robins may look pretty, they have a really big mean streak. 2) Just because birds share the skies, that does not mean they are willing to share their food; and 3) Even a dog who is supposedly part pit bull can be a conscientious objector when it comes to backyard bird Turf Wars.