Christi Clark recently captured an owl perched in a tree that was getting a verbal attack from some very sassy blue jays.

They even began to dive-bomb the owl.

Owls and blue jays have an adversarial relationship. Owls will prey on smaller birds at night, including blue jays, according to birdwatching.com.

Blue jays are territorial and will try to drive an owl off if it’s in their space during the day. They treat owls as enemies and the predators they are.

Blue jays fly relatively slowly, making themselves easy prey to owls and hawks, according to Audubon.

But not all owls eat smaller birds.

So if you hear blue jays carrying on, you might want to follow the noise and see what the fuss is about. You might find an owl sitting in a tree.

BDN writer Leela Stockley contributed to this report.

Julie Harris is senior outdoors editor at Bangor Daily News. She has served in many roles since joining BDN in 1979, including several editing positions. She lives in Litchfield with her husband and three...

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