Our yard has been annexed by a quartet of scrub jays. From their size and behavior, I assume they were nest-mates. They are all about the same size, aggressive and constantly hungry, but will eat side-by-side with no squabbles. They colonized the standing feeder first. Then they put a move on the finch feeder, even going so far as to try to hang upside down from a piece of yard sculpture and peck at it. Then they found the cylindrical feeder just outside my home office window. It is meant for little birds, and when one of the jays lands on it, it tilts, spilling seed everywhere. Now they fly down and strike at it, just to scatter seed that they eat off of the deck. Rapping sharply on the window scared them off for about half an hour. Squirting them with a water bottle, that time-honored cat-behavior-adapter, scared them away for about a minute. I’ve named them the Four Marauders.
Yesterday I walked to the kitchen window to look at the little birds on the cylindrical feeder. I didn’t recognize them from the back. (They were house finches.) I said, “Oh, good, the little birds are back. That means the Four Marauders will be showing up.”
Spouse said, “The what?”
I turned to look him. His forehead was corrugated and he stared at me.
“You know,” I said, “The Four Marauders.”
“Ohhhh!” he said. “I thought you said, ‘The Former Otters!’”