Woman Forges Lasting Friendship With a Blue Jay She Fed as a Hungry Chick

One day, while a caring woman named Desiree was outside, a tiny wayward baby blue jay flew onto her deck and demanded food. She didn’t have any birdseed, but she did have cat food, which she fed the bird with chopsticks. He ate it all up and came back the next day for more, until it became a daily routine.

This bird came out of nowhere. It just swooped down with its mouth open making these sounds and with its wings flapping, it came back. …I don’t have anything in my house to feed birds, right? I mean, I’m just sitting here minding my own business, not expecting this to happen. The only thing I could think of is cat food because we have cats.

As “Birdie” grew, he became more independent, even visiting without wanting food.

I found out he was molting, which is a normal, you know, growing-up behavior. He was like a teenager already, and it had only been a couple of months. Eventually, Birdie wasn’t even coming back for food anymore. … It just became like, you know, like a friendship.

Eventually, Birdie stopped coming around as much, but Desiree is convinced that he still remembers her.

As Birdie grew up, his visits became less frequent. When I say “Birdie”, he knows my voice. …He’s still in my trees. He comes to visit. He dropped a feather right in front of me. It just came floating down, you know, from the sky.