Final Score JBirds 3 -Susan 1

It was a fierce battle to the end, the end of the filbert (hazelnut) harvest, that is. Out of our four producing trees, the Stellar Jay birds were relentless in their pursuit of delicious nuts. They were systematic about the process.

Early on, even before the nuts inside the shells were fully formed, the familiar squawk of the Jbirds could be heard in the surrounding trees. Our tall fir and big leaf maples on the far side of the driveway became their on-deck waiting areas. Usually one bird at a time would do a flyover to check out the safety of the area before sending in a squadron that would pillage throughout the day and into the evening.

I had Elmer Fudd (Mike with a shotgun) out there many days perched under one of the big apple trees and the cats were treated to fresh fowl for their meals, but it did little to slow the blue tide of birds. As the season wore on, the J’s got sneakier. They would fly around the backside of the shop and pluck a choice nut off the far tree before flying away with it. The evidence of cracked nut shells can be found under trees across the road and even up into the forest. The crafty critters cleaned off that far tree first then moved up the line to the next one. Of course these trees were the pollenizers (pollinizers), the Ennis Hazelnut that is a favorite in this household. I was only able to secure a couple of handfuls of the prized harvest and they were eaten before I could dry them for storage.

Out of all the trees, the entire crop totaled two quarts of shelled nut meats, they have been dried and stored in the freezer. It was a pitiful harvest, so we will have to savor the few we got for this year. It will be a whole year before the battle will begin again.

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