Jack

[old'un]

Behind the houses across the road from me is a 200 acre nature reserve, it holds a good number of rabbits which in turn feeds the local buzzards and foxes, it also has a fair few pigeons, crows, rooks and jackdaws using the woodland, the wife loves her birds and puts out plenty of food on the bird table and hanging feeders, I also pickup a bag of wheat from one of the local farms which she mixes with the wild bird seed, needles to say this mix pulls a fair few pigeons from the reserve along with a few jackdaws, this last week we have had one jackdaw take a shine to my wife, when she walked out to put food on the bird table it just sat there and did not flinch, I thought there was something wrong with it as the other jackdaws flew off into a nearby ash tree, it comes everyday with a few of its mates and lands on the bird table, if the wife is at the kitchen window it flies and lands on the window wall basket and taps on the kitchen window for attention/food, its even started taking food from her hand, not very original but she calls him/her `Jack`.

Now this bird is wild and completely free to come and go, its flying about with other jackdaws and returns to the woods on the nature reserve, as anyone else seen this behaviour in jackdaws? it’s a first for me.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

It is one of the brighter ones as it has the sense to know when it is on a good number!

[islandgun]

Thats brilliant, To take food from her hand is highly unusual, I have a robin that sits on the window sill until i take food out

[old'un]

There’s another wall basket by the kitchen door, when you open the door he/she lands there and start calling in a very low tone, almost like its talking, very odd behaviour.

At first I thought it was poorly or possibly an escapee from someone who had kept it as a pet but it arrived with 7 other jackdaws and returns to the woods with them of an evening.

[snow white]

We used to have fan tail doves a couple of them would land on kitchen window sill and tap the window till my missis would open it then she would put a bit of feed on sill it was lovely to watch.

[islandgun]

It would be interesting to see if it keeps coming in the summer

[Mice!]

https://m.facebook.com/groups/1095546103914599?view=permalink&id=1615926478543223&refid=18&_ft_=qid.6653478610039084458%3Amf_story_key.1615926478543223%3Atop_level_post_id.1615926478543223%3Atl_objid.1615926478543223%3Acontent_owner_id_new.100000185440973%3Asrc.22%3Aphoto_id.2602770179739138%3Astory_location.6%3Astory_attachment_style.video_inline&__tn__=*W-R#footer_action_list

not daft birds when it comes to food.

[oowee]

Great to see. Bright bird. 

[figgy]

So she won't let you shoot that one then, now she's named it.

Wife won't let me touch the squizzers even when they rag the peanut feeder in the garden.

See if she feels the same when they start raiding nests.

Lad I knew as a youngster had a jackdaw that was tame, very intelligent birds.

[browning123]

Be careful that your wife does't leave any of her jewellery on view to the bird - ie removes rings and places them on the window sill when washing up etc

[mel b3]

1 hour ago, browning123 said:

Be careful that your wife does't leave any of her jewellery on view to the bird - ie removes rings and places them on the window sill when washing up etc

This is very true , they love anything shiny. 

I was given a tame one some years ago , it was quite a character, it flew free whenever we were at home , but slept in a large cage at night . Each morning it would squawk it's head off at first light until you opened the cage.

I also remember as a kid , a jackdaw that appeared at a camp site that we used ,it was obviously an escapee as it was a very good talker , and it would steal just about anything that it could carry .

[grrclark]

My dad had what was a wild jackdaw as a pet for a good while as a lad, it was free to come and go but chose to stay round and about the house and behaved like a fully tame bird.

It ended up being shot.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

8 hours ago, grrclark said:

My dad had what was a wild jackdaw as a pet for a good while as a lad, it was free to come and go but chose to stay round and about the house and behaved like a fully tame bird.

It ended up being shot.

Blimey, what did it do wrong?

[old'un]

16 hours ago, figgy said:

So she won't let you shoot that one then, now she's named it.

Wife won't let me touch the squizzers even when they rag the peanut feeder in the garden.

See if she feels the same when they start raiding nests.

Lad I knew as a youngster had a jackdaw that was tame, very intelligent birds.

Yep, I am fully aware of what these birds are capable of, it is starting to dominate the feeding stations around the garden, chasing other birds when they try to feed, its also got a bit of a destructive nature as it pecks and pulls at just about anything around the garden, he/she as also had a go at pulling the rubber seals out around the kitchen window.

Although I tend to be a little more tolerant of things that come to our garden I do try to keep a balance by controlling the magpies and squirrels.

As you say if he /she becomes a pest then I am afraid he/she may have to go, lets face it if it flew past me when I was across the fields it would more than likely get a barrel or two.

We will see.

[12gauge82]

2 minutes ago, old'un said:

Yep, I am fully aware of what these birds are capable of, it is starting to dominate the feeding stations around the garden, chasing other birds when they try to feed, its also got a bit of a destructive nature as it pecks and pulls at just about anything around the garden, he/she as also had a go at pulling the rubber seals out around the kitchen window.

Although I tend to be a little more tolerant of things that come to our garden I do try to keep a balance by controlling the magpies and squirrels.

As you say if he /she becomes a pest then I am afraid he/she may have to go, lets face it if it flew past me when I was across the fields it would more than likely get a barrel or two.

We will see.

Maybe I'm going soft with age, but I couldn't shoot an animal I'd made a connection with. 

[old'un]

38 minutes ago, 12gauge82 said:

Maybe I'm going soft with age, but I couldn't shoot an animal I'd made a connection with. 

yep, I know what you mean, and yes I also think its an age thing, I remember as a youngster back in the 60s if anything came within range of my air rifle it was dead, the local sparrows and starlings were very weary of our garden.

[Mice!]

3 hours ago, old'un said:

yep, I know what you mean, and yes I also think its an age thing, I remember as a youngster back in the 60s if anything came within range of my air rifle it was dead, the local sparrows and starlings were very weary of our garden.

Something to consider is a small covered bird table, I've done this so the pigeons and magpies can't eat everything, I've found they won't land under the roof, or put big gauge mesh on the sides, then the smaller birds will land on the "cage" hop through and feed while the big bullies can't bother them.

[Pistol p]

My brother has two of these that were rescued from a felled nest from 20 years ago. They live in his front room flying around  and around slowly destroying his live. It a total **** hole in there. He has got a lovely nice lung condition and will argue that they are lovely creatures and don't need culling. Also, pigeons are beautiful birds that are fantastic to look at and really are taken too hard as a pest. However if i turn up with a few pigeons that have been dispatched, he'll happily take them for the pan. He's a hypocrite and retard. I've shot two jackdaws this week and will sleep well.

[12gauge82]

I've shot and will continue to shoot all sorts, but all wildlife has its place, I love seeing foxes when I'm out and about, so long as they're not bothering anyone, I live and let live, there's nothing wrong with taking a shine to a jackdaw, there's far more destructive things us humans do.