A gargantuan (at least when compared to the Carolina chickadees) bluejay just landed out back. I'm used to Stellar's jays, which are blue in the way that a cat or a horse is blue--that sort of peculiarly sheened gray. But this sucker is BLUE.
Trying to plant for birds and butterflies--gonna try starting some bee balm and coneflowers from seed, and see if I can't plant 'em in the side yard. A packet of seeds is a small enough investment that I'm willing to make it in a rental property, and I'll see if some of the bee balm will live in a pot. That should round out my plantings--I've got vines, shrubs, and a few nifty annuals--although I'm pretty sure I'll get hit by the "OOOH! Lookit that!" bug a coupla times. The spring is young, yet. is young.
The sheer joy of having a garden again cannot be fathomed. I have pineapple sage! (Mom used to have pineapple sage, and she says the hummingbirds are attracted to it like nothing else she's ever seen.)
-ducks-
You can't play your jedi mind tricks on me.
I could argue that anything blue isn't really blue, it just reflects blue light, but you know, that doesn't change the fact that it looks blue! ;)
Corvids
Blue jays (yes, they're corvids, too, and related to ravens, crows and magpies) also tend towards aggression and are quite capable of mobbing and driving off much larger birds. Smaller birds don't pose much of a problem, either.
I've actually found hummingbirds pretty nice. We see a lot at the feeder at my aunt's house in the Adirondacks, and they never bother the other animals much. So yes!
Off-topic...
Re: Off-topic...
They have a lot of really good soft ice cream there.
Another thing about bluejays...
I have personally seen bluejays beat the living crap out of other birds (usually sparrows, presumably to kill them). They pin the smaller bird down and WHACK WHACK WHACK on them with their beaks, like some sort of demented woodpecker.
But then, I've also seen crows do the same thing to bluejays, so I guess what goes around, comes around.
(just thought I'd mention it.)
Pineapple sage, eh? I'll have to try that! :)