Bird Watching: Truffles vs. Bluejay

This past week we've been working on getting the yard cleared up because the city has free pick-up of yard waste and such for a couple weeks. So this morning I went out to the backyard to do some raking, putting Sasha in the kennel because we were the only ones awake.

I was working on gathering all the leaves in the garden area when I finally took notice of a loud bird that had been practically screaming for the past few minutes. Looking around, I saw Truffles sneaking through the twisted branches of some gnarled tree nearby. Overhead darted a bluejay - back and forth, all around the tree, feathers ruffled and cawing like crazy. I think there was a nest in the tree, but I can't be sure. That would be my guess because, though the bird was clearly what Truffles was after, I can't think of any reason it would be hanging around and be so angry except for a nest.

I put down the rake and moved closer to see just what was going on. The bluejay kept flitting around that tree and occasionally up to the higher branches of the tree next to it. Truffles was having some difficulty getting through the tangled mass of branches, but his eyes stayed almost constantly on the bird. The bluejay would sit on a branch and yell at Truffles, perhaps take a few jabs at the branch with its beak, and then quickly move to another branch.

In a minute this activity drew another bluejay to the scene, and then there were two angry birds darting around, stabbing at branches, and screaming in unison at the smug cat. Soon more birds appeared - one little bird I couldn't identify came to rest in the high branches of one tree and three or four cardinals settled on a bush. The bluejays had gone quiet, only shrieking in rage every now and then. Truffles completely ignored the nest (I'm pretty sure that's what I saw on the other side of the tree) and kept looking for the quickest route to the top.

Only when I saw the female cardinal resting quietly in plain sight did I have the sense to hurry inside for a camera. It took me longer than I wanted because I couldn't find Mom's, so eventually I had to borrow Heather's point-n-shoot. (Sorry, Heather.) When I came back outside, all the birds but one bluejay (presumably the first) had left, and the one that remained was almost silent, though still moving frantically from branch to branch.

I tried to get some pictures, but failed. Truffles saw that his hunt wasn't going to be a success, so with some frustrated yowls he clambered down from the tree and sat among the lilies glaring fiercely. The bluejay hung around for a while, but I think it finally realized the cat wasn't after the nest.