A Better Wasp Solution

This weekend, a lady came by to say that she was spraying for pests (primarily wasps, and also rats) at 8 (out of 18) houses on our court, and she wanted to offer us the low, low price of $60 to spray our house too.  First of all... spray chemicals in my nice organic yard and near the food garden?  HECK NO.  Secondly, there are easier and cheaper ways to lower the wasp population if they're bothersome, like using homemade wasp traps, or putting on protective clothing and knocking nests down with a long stick before the grubs mature. 

Or you could always use the predator method!  A few days earlier, this bird tweeted at me from the top of the fence for a few minutes (and I tweeted back, of course) until I approached, then it flew to the neighbor's eave and immediately back to the fence with a wasp nest in its beak.  It was almost like it was saying "Hey lady!  C'mere!  I wanna show you a trick!"  I had time to grab the camera and take a video for you!  If anyone knows what kind of bird this is, please speak up... I've always called this type of bird a "blue jay" but looking for pictures online makes me think it is a "western scrub-jay" instead.

Jay eats a wasp larva.

There are two birds of this type who visit regularly for the hanging bird-feeder which I keep full of songbird seed... one is always interested in grabbing seeds from the feeder which looks much more difficult, and the second bird is always more interested in picking up primarily the sunflower seeds that have fallen to the ground.  Bird #1 tends to watch me a lot and is more vocal and friendly and sometimes comes by himself.  It's probable that this was the same bird, especially if it was willing to go through so much effort for a bug!

I will say this... I'm worried that my new bird friend will go for another delicious wasp treat and find out too late that it's been drenched in poison.  I'll keep my seed feeder and the water dish full, and hope the clean food fulfills his needs.