Table manners
| 02 Apr 2024 | 01:40
The blue jay. (
)
White breasted nuthatch. Smaller birds come and go at will, but only one of the larger birds occupies the feeder at a time. (
)
The red bellied woodpecker appears to take precedence. (
)
The cardinal always defers to the blue jay and the blue jay to the woodpecker. (
)
Outside my office window there’s an old mulberry tree with a bird feeder. The larger birds that regularly partake are a cardinal, a blue jay, and a woodpecker. Among these three there appears to be an unspoken dining etiquette. Smaller birds come and go at will, but only one of the larger birds can occupy the feeder at a time. The cardinal always defers to the blue jay and the blue jay to the woodpecker. They end up taking turns and each gets a piece of the pie.