Bird behaviour

A pair of collared doves visit my bird feeder and they chase off all other birds whatever their size. They even stay put when I add more food, they are quite tame. I only saw one for a few days and worried that something had happened to the other, but a new or old partner has joined it recently.

Today I was tutoring a teenager in her own home. We were sitting at a table by the french window when I noticed a jay sitting on a patio chair. They're usually quite shy, but this one was really bold. It strutted around the garden, looking for something edible, found what looked like a scrap of bread and proceeded to drop it in a flower-pot saucer on the patio table. I'd never had such a good close-up view of a jay and, sadly, I had left my phone at home so couldn't get a photo!

I love the way fledglings are so like human teenagers. They're perfectly capable of picking up their own food but even if they're standing in the feeder they'll start to beg as soon as they see one of their parents and their parents will respond. It reminds me of when my girls were teenagers. There were perfectly capable of cooking a three course meal if they needed to but suddenly couldn't even make toast in a toaster if I walked into the kitchen. I wasn't as daft as parent birds though so they still had to make it themselves lol.