May 7

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Clarissa and Bo are still hard at work.

They work hard, and they work long hours.

They continue to excel at stick collection, but are not getting better at nest construction.

They try.  They clearly have fixed ideas about what to do with sticks, and they do those things, vigorously and often.

There is a certain ... lack of coordination ... in their efforts.  One will often grab a stick from the other, and the most likely fate, for the stick, is a fall to the ground.

Bo and Clarissa do not always agree about where to put the nest, let alone about how to arrange the sticks.  They have been working hard for a month, now, and, well, they haven't accomplished very much, aside from a couple of good-sized piles of fallen sticks.

We are not totally sad about this.  Blue jays are pretty aggressive when nesting.  We have heard that, once they have babies, they will dive-bomb us, and the dog, if we have the temerity to use our back door (which is the door we always use).  We wouldn't care to be dive-bombed, ourselves, and it would be Very Bad if the dog decided he couldn't go out the back door (into the fenced yard) because of the scary scary birds.

Jays will also rob other birds' nests, taking eggs and nestlings.  If I had to pick between robins and blue jays, I'd go for robins...........


The other birds that are nesting over our patio are much more successful. 

This is the same robin nest from which three babies fledged last year.  The robins spent the equivalent of one afternoon, doing a bit of refurbishing, and one of the adults has been sitting on the nest much of every day for the last week or so.

I have not seen Bo or Clarissa paying any attention to the robin nest (which is visible, and within 20 feet of their work site).  I hope that continues!

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