Ohio Bird Sanctuary songbirds

The Ohio Bird Sanctuary cares for raptors and has a walk-through songbird aviary.

The rare ring-billed gull songbird

mourning dove

You know how I like cedar waxwings.

This is an African or a Eurasian collared dove. I'll be danged if I can tell the difference.

Some years ago, the missing gardener and I visited the Sanctuary. We went into the aviary and learned we could buy mealworms in the office. On our way back to the aviary from the office, we learned that blue jays recognize little white cups because the jays were hanging on the inside of the mesh, waiting for us.

A jay is curious about the missing gardener's coat. I like jays because of their beauty and attitude.

This jay takes food, and the visitor asks it if it's hiding food in her sleeve.

A jay hammers a seed.

I think this jay has a mealworm.

A jay perches.

 

The missing gardener and I toss peanuts to chipmunks through an open window in our dinette. One year, a blue jay noticed and swooped down to get a nut before the chipmunk could. We took to first tossing a peanut onto the roof of the adjacent porch for the jay and then giving a peanut to the chipmunk. A little while later, being a smart bird, it trained us: It perched on the fence outside our dining room window and stared at us until we went through the kitchen to the dinette and deposited a peanut on the roof.