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Where We Left Off:
Ollie and Gus investigated a peculiar incident of a sleeping creature in Gnome Grove.
Hunger:
After the previous case of the Jersey devil-deer napping in Gnome Grove, we had a sense of peace about that space. That is, until…Gus and I discovered a disturbing scene.
We went out for a limited patrol due to the amount of snow on the ground. The paths shoveled between the residence, Oliver’s patio, Gnome Grove, and the fern garden began to widen with more trampling wildlife activity and melting from days that had finally reached above freezing.
“Gus!” I called for the detective to come right over when I noticed feathers on the ground. “Take a look at this.”
Gus turned on one cleared pathway and headed towards me. He navigated through all those poop piles like a border collie going through weave poles.
“What’ve ya got?” He briefly stopped to sniff a poop pile close to my location. We he recognized it as something he had already studied, he moved on to where I was.
“This.” I pointed to the evidence of a tumultuous assault on the ground. There were blue, black, and white long feathers with fluffy downy ones of grey and cyan.
“Hrm,” Gus murmured. “The feathers are distinctly contained to this small circle.”
The evidence was directly at the base of two trees. Technically, one living tree and one tall stump. That stump is one of the prime snack bars that gets a serving of birdseeds and peanuts in the shell. It was a hot spot for birds and squirrels. The chipmunks typically stayed on the ground, but they were still in their winter season residences. It was unlikely the Chipmunk Mafia knew anything about this crime.
Cause and Manner of Death:
“It’s obviously a homicide. No bird would rip off its own wings and pluck itself bare like this,” I said.
I slipped on gloves and picked up some feathers and examined them closely. They looked like they came from a strong, healthy bird. No signs of illness. No ragged presentation. The H5N1 (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza aka “bird flu”) virus is a current problem. The NJ DEP and local reservoir have issued statements about it. It was still vital to take caution. HPAIÂ can cause birds to drop dead without prior symptoms. A disease without symptoms sounds like the most dangerous kind.
“We know this is murder,” Gus emphasized. “There’s no body. If cause of death was respiratory distress from bird flu, the bird would be here and the feathers wouldn’t be plucked off.”
We were in the clear. We had to proceed with the investigation. I took the crime scene photos to present to Oliver as soon as Gus and I were back at the office. Ollie set up the murder board as we filled out the information we knew:
- Victim species: Blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
- Approximate age: adult
We had to identify the victim first before more could be done.
“Gus, did your heightened olfactory sense give you a clue about this bird’s identity?” Ollie said.
“It did.” Gus went over to his game which was a signal that he required treats before answering questions. Once that was done, he divulged what he knew.
“Sprysak?” Ollie said. “Are you sure?”
“Smell for yourself. We brought a few feathers in for you to examine,” Gus said.
Oliver confirmed our initial assessment. The victim was a reality new member of the Blue Jay Gang. He originally came from Greenpoint, Brooklyn with his associate Blutocki. They were in search of a fresh organization and cut ties to their old pals in the racket.
“His partner Blutocki was murdered only months ago,” I said.
“Yep. Last August.” Gus lifted one paw and gave one of the test tubes on an axle of his game a good spin.
We had to analyze for any similarities in the two cases. Both were committed at snack bars where birds, squirrels, and chipmunks regularly feed.
Blutocki was killed on August 26, 2025 by the stray black cat, Bud (aka the Gus doppelgänger) in the darkness of morning between 5:30 and 6:00 AM. Since it’s now winter, we don’t patrol in the early morning hours like we do in August. Our window of opportunity couldn’t be narrowed down to that same timeframe. We did go out on February 14th and 15th. We had a roughly 24-hour window.
We scoured through 24 hours of security camera and trailcam footage. We could eliminate the white-tailed deer and the Jersey devil-deer. They wouldn’t target a bird. Well, a devil-deer might, but it would need a good reason.
“Does that mean we’re ruling out an accidental death too?” I asked.
“Of course. Wings and feathers that might come apart from something devastating like a car impact, would still leave the body,” Gus said.
“Unless,” Oliver said, “hear me out. If there was an accidental death, we have plenty of scavengers here that would have snapped that fresh corpse up in a minute.”
“You can’t be seriously considering an accident, Ollie!” Gus gently bopped his cousin on the nose. “This bird’s partner was murdered by a stray cat. That’s our most probable scenario.”
Ollie smacked Gus back. “I don’t disagree with you, cousin. But we should look at this death from all angles.”
That’s what we did. We spent days going over the evidence, the photos, and revisited the crime scene. The only other animal to show up on the camera feeds besides Cervidae (maging and mundane), was a single coyote and an innocent opossum that was ruled out immediately.
Our victim information was now more complete and we had a prime suspect.
- Name: Sprysak
- Victim species: Blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
- Approximate age: adult
- Associates: Blutocki; outsider member of the Blue Jay Gang under Mickey Blue.
Our suspect’s name is Cookie. She was once a breeding partner with Armando, a large muscular male coyote with a lot of love to give. Cookie can be self-sufficient, but she prefers to have friends nearby where she knows she can easily reach them for socializing and other canine things. She might have been on the lookout for a small mammal like a squirrel or rabbit, but settled for blue jay.
Case Findings:
The detective agency staff came across a horrific crime scene in Gnome Grove. The feathers and partially intact wings of a blue jay were spread in a circular area at the base of two trees where snacks are regularly distributed. There was no body. Using their olfactory senses and other analysis, Guster and Ollie determined that the feathers belonged to Sprysak, a known member of the Blue Jay Gang. The team ruled out nefarious connections between this homicide and that of Sprysak’s partner, Blutocki, from last summer. Sprysak was the victim of a hungry coyote, Cookie. All she wanted was a meal. There were no connections to any crime family in the death of blue jay Sprysak.
Case Status: Closed