Someone else the wren doesn't like

But I don't attempt to shoo the jay away.

Still, as if the cats catching baby birds weren't bad enough, corvid nest predation doesn't help either. At least the jays actually need the food.

My friend Gay has a jay [Nice. - Ed.]. Chichi is a fledgling who was, I think, caught by a cat. She is recovering well, eating proper food now and getting her pretty feathers. She shouts raucously and looks adorable. Gay has to restrain herself from considering or treating Chichi as a companion. Instead, the bird will fly free once she is strong enough. I saw a video of the baby jay and oh how much I would have liked to be the one caring for her... but I couldn't let her go. And that is even crueler than the alternative.

Freedom matters - and, much as I bemoan the precarity of wild life, I do believe there is joy too. A wild joy that could never be experienced in captivity. As long as you can accept despair, you can taste too the wild joy that is there.