There was a time, not so long ago, when we rarely saw Stellar’s jays on Chicken Ridge. In 1995 crows dominated the neighborhood. They’d arrive in a noisy crowd each spring on one of the first warm days, taking positions in the neighborhood trees like an occupying force. Ten years later they relocated in another neighborhood, allowing a pair of ravens to move in.

            I am happy to hang with the ravens, who entertained we humans by hiding flashy little garbage scraps in our yard. The ravens still spend much of their time in ours or our neighbors’ yards. But a pair of Stellar’s jays now fly in and out of our yard like bossy blue birds.