Bird popularity contest: Blue Jays vs. Cardinals

[brentspeak]

The better bird?

[KitchenWitch]

1. definitely cardinals

Bluejays can be rather mean and nasty to other birds.

[XemaSab]

2. Are you kidding me?

Cardinals will bite the living shit out of you.

They attack the webs of your fingers.

I have seen grown men openly weeping at the pain of it. :cry:

Jays just sit there quietly. :)

[KitchenWitch]

4. Not in Minnesota!

[KamaAina]

3. Orioles!

[Maestro]

7. Nice alternative. Here's mine

The Eastern Bluebird is quite the handsome one as well.

[KamaAina]

9. Sure, but the Eastern Bluebirds' bullpen sucks

and their catcher couldn't throw out the trash. :-)

[Maestro]

10. Oh yes, I get where you are going with this.

Of course, I might be wrong but I don't the bluejays nor the Cardinals made the playoffs but I haven't really checked. I should know. This is my favorite sport! ;)

[Bravo Zulu]

5. Big Blue Jay in the back yard

I can't decide, I like them both equally as well!

[brentspeak]

12. What's that he's got in his mouth?

Looks like an acorn.

[Bravo Zulu]

20. Acorn dispersal agents

Acorns, being too heavy to blow in wind, do not fall far from the tree at maturity. Because of this, oaks depend on seed dispersal agents to move the acorns beyond the canopy of the mother tree and into an environment in which they can germinate and find access to adequate water, sunlight and soil nutrients, ideally a minimum of 20-30 m from the parent tree. Many acorn predators eat unripe acorns on the tree or ripe acorns from the ground, with no reproductive benefit to the oak. However, some acorn predators also serve as seed dispersal agents. Jays and squirrels that scatter-hoard acorns in caches for future use, effectively plant acorns in a variety of locations in which it is possible for them to germinate and thrive. Although jays and squirrels retain remarkably large mental maps of cache locations and return to consume them, the odd acorn may be lost, or a jay or squirrel may die before consuming all of its stores. A small number of acorns manage to germinate and survive, producing the next generation of oaks.

Scatter-hoarding behavior depends on jays and squirrels associating with plants that provide good packets of food that are nutritionally valuable, but not too big for the dispersal agent to handle. The beak sizes of jays determine how large acorns may get before jays ignore them.

Acorns germinate on different schedules, depending on their place in the oak family. Once acorns sprout, they are less nutritious, as the seed tissue converts to the indigestible lignins that form the root

[brentspeak]

26. Interesting that blue jays and squirrels are unknowningly helping out oak trees

[RushIsRot]

6. I used to feed both species in a local park. My experience was

that blue jays could catch the peanut in mid air and cardinals would hop around on the ground staring at the peanut wondering, "Hey, what's this?" Then a blue jay would swoop down and get that peanut as well. Jays are the smarter bird in my mind.

[brentspeak]

13. Blue jays can be real loud

They can sound like crows, with their squawking.

[RushIsRot]

19. Jays and crows are related. Blue jays are the colorful cousins of

crows.

[Maestro]

8. I went with the Cardinal. Here are my pics.

The cardinal....


The blue jay....

[brentspeak]

11. Nice pics, especially the cardinal

What camera?

on edit: I think I remember you saying a while back that you used the Canon Digital Rebel. You inquired about the "hack". Did you ever install and use it?

[Maestro]

29. Good memory

But I never did install the hack. I got afraid. I didn't want to void any warranties and then the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," kept creeping into my head. But I appreciate you pointing me in the right direction. I think I still have the PM saved just in case. ;)

[southerncrone]

14. Blue-jays are annoying, pushy birds.

[pitohui]

22. cardinals push too

yeah they don't knock you on the head but if singing "pretty pretty pretty" over and over again for twelve fucking hours ain't pushy what is

[Xipe Totec]

15. Other - Green Jays

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Green_Jay.html

[BlueJazz]

31. Boy!...That's a very pretty Bird.

[Zephyrbird]

16. Congo African grey

oh wait--wrong continent!

oh wait--we're talking baseball!

Gotta be the Cards! Maybe I'm jingoistic, but American butts look cuter to me in the uniforms than Canadian butts.
:woohoo:

Zeph

[Skittles]

17. TOUGH ONE

I'm thinking Blue-Jay edges out cardinal in sheer beauty but I really am fascinated when I watch a Mr. and Ms. Cardinal. :D

[GOPisEvil]

18. A blue jay attacked me once.

Even if I didn't cheer for the baseball team of the same name, I'd prefer the Cardinal.

[pitohui]

21. a blue jay attacked me 4 times in the same day!

his nest was in the tree outside the door i exit and enter -- he showed almost as much heart as a MOCKINGBIRD

that show of spirit, to boldly attack and defend and protect, that makes me MORE inclined to vote for mr. blue jay

but damn this is tough

for the most part in my yard blue jays stay high (except for that one year of the nest of the getting my head pecked every time i walked outside w.out a hat) and cardinals stay low with babies right up to the house

so the entertainment value of the cardinals year after year right up against my window...it's pretty dam impressive

but the blue jays, actually extirpated from my yard by west nile, then to come back and to have so much heart

it's just tough

[deucemagnet]

23. Cardinals. Blue Jays are too screechy. n/t

[Maestro]

30. Ever heard a Screech Owl?

Those are screechy!!!!! And you hear them in the middle of the night. Scares the crap out of you at times. :rofl:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

24. Blue Jays have a call that sounds like aliens...

At least it sounds the way I'd expect an alien to sound. :D

I love both birds; but I have a special fondness for jays, because they're so scrappy.

[TZ]

25. Blue Jays will eat anything...

including other birds chicks (I've seen pictures of it!). I like Cardinals myself because they have a nice song and I have never been woken up by a cardinal...Can't say the same for those noisy noisy Blue Jays....

[rateyes]

27. Well, since I've cheered for the St. Louis Cardinals baseball

team for 40 years....I voted Cardinal. But, my favorite bird has always been this one:

[MissMillie]

28. Blue Jays are mean birds

they usually care off the other birds at the feeder.