Which birds are the biggest jerks at the feeder?

[elleng]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/11/28/bird-feeder-pecking-order/

[LakeArenal]

1. All I will say is doves like to prop their asses on my heated bird bath and poop in the water.

They also mess up the seeds.
And.... they are always doing it. Forget rabbits... doves are horny.

[elleng]

2. WOW!

[pdxflyboy]

3. Hummingbirds, to each other.

[Ocelot II]

4. Blue jays, from my experience. Everybody is afraid of blue jays.

Except there was that one time when I saw a Cooper's hawk swoop down on one of my feeders and snatch a cardinal. I suppose hawks aren't really feeder birds; they just feed on feeder birds.

[Ponietz]

7. Pinon Jays where I live

They are close-knit and move as a group, 50 or more, overwhelming all others.
We call them Crips.

[RainCaster]

8. Stellar's Jays are the gangsters where I live

Noisy, pushy, dumping most of the seed on the ground so they can get the peanuts & sunflower seeds.

[RockRaven]

5. If you live in the parts of the west/southwest in which they live, I recommend a feeder for

lesser goldfinches. They are very amusing. The thistle/nyger seeds aren't interesting to the larger birds, so there isn't any interspecies strife, and these little guys squabble with each other constantly without actually harming or successfully bullying each other. The spiral-perch tube feeders especially.

[Journeyman]

6. At our feeder (Southern California) the Pin-Tailed Whydah has been the biggest jerk for years . . .

A native of sub-Saharan Africa, the Whydah were brought here to be sold in pet stores. But they escaped or were let free and are now seen across the Southland. Beautiful, distinctive creatures, they are brood parasites -- they lay their eggs in other birds' nests and let them raise their young.

The male was maybe 5 inches long, not counting its tail feathers, which are about equal length. The male is also very thin. The female is a little smaller, doesn't have the pin feathers, and tends to be more plump.

Our Whydah was obnoxious. No matter how much food was in the feeder or on the ground, he fluttered about, diving at the other birds, chasing them away from the feed. The larger birds -- Jays, Robins, Doves, etc -- were unimpressed. The little birds flitted away, then quickly returned when he went after other birds.

The female was much nicer. She took her place with the other birds and ate quietly. But then, she had designs on their nests and their time, so she had ulterior motives.

We're not certain but we think he either molted his pin-feathers or a cat grabbed them, but we haven's seen him since we found the long feathers in the yard.