The other morning I followed the sound of what I thought to be a baby hawk, possibly in distress. Walking deeper into the woods as quietly as I could, I stopped often to property in on the insistent sounds. I hoped to catch a glimpse of a juvenile hawk, or at least the nesting internet site.
I lastly reached the spot where the hawk sounds had been the loudest. Nonetheless, significantly to my surprise it was not a red shouldered hawk that flew out of the tree, but a blue jay uttering the same shrill but nasal ‘keyeer, keeyeer’! It was then I knew I had been fooled by 1 of the finest and most versatile mimics in the bird world.
By sounding like a hawk, blue jays easily scatter other birds at the feeder. This provides them the freedom to dine at their leisure with little to no competition. They also have their own form of insect control. Did you know that blue jays often comb their feathers with ants? Presumably they are making use of the insects to catch and get rid of lice and other irritating parasites. Quite clever birds!
For at least 15 years now, every Spring there is a really unique blue jay that comes to my feeder. This jay has always imitated the sound of an old rotary phone being dialed. It is a extremely special sound. I need to admit that I look forward to hearing it once more each and every year. I know that jays are long-lived, and my phone dialer is the proof!
In addition to being raucous and occasionally aggressive, blue jays can be gentle and quiet. I watched as two males vied for the attention of a stunning soft gray-blue female. They each and every flew from branch to branch cooing softly and trying to get closer to her. Then 1 male would fly upwards engaging the female to do the same. The pair gently floated downwards in a spiral of unfurled wings, landing on the ground and then retreating to separate branches.
This happened several times as every male took turns trying to impress the female with body bobbing and soft comforting sounds. All 3 flew off together to one more spot in the woods to repeat the exact same dance. I can only envision how lengthy it took that female to finally choose which male blue jay was to be her mate. It was enjoyable and fascinating to watch.
Blue Jays are quite secretive when it comes to developing nests. They use alternate routes and decoy locations so that no predator can simply follow them to the nesting internet site. They enjoy shiny objects and will frequently incorporate bits of foil wrappers into their loose twig nests. They like a nicely-decorated home as significantly as we humans do! There will be as couple of as 3 or as several as seven olive-green eggs covered with brown spots.
Burying stores of food to be unearthed later when food sources are scarce is an additional tactic employed by these large 11″ to 12″ birds. Their favorites are sunflower seeds, peanuts, cracked corn, pieces of stale bread or baked goods, suet and berries. They are also fond of other birds’ eggs, so it is a great notion to supply protection in the way of bird houses and nesting boxes.
Sometimes here in the northeast, if the Winter is fairly mild, our blue jays will remain. It is so nice to see their gorgeous blue coloring against the white snow. Jays have a white face, black collar, blue wings and back with a blue tail trimmed with white and black feathers. Their distinctive blue crest will give a hint as to what they are feeling. For instance, when they are calm their crest will be flattened. On the other hand, if they are in an aggressive mood, the crest will be pointed forward.
When both colorful cardinals and blue jays appear on a grey, snow-covered day, it is a sight that assists the winter months seem not fairly so long. It is no wonder that they are very frequently depicted on holiday greeting cards!
My clever blue jays never cease to amaze me with their beauty, aggressive raucousness and mimickery. I get pleasure from watching them grab a bite to consume at the feeders just before winging their way effortlessly and gracefully via our woods. They will be back a lot of times during the day with their now familiar ‘keeyeer’ to scatter the smaller birds–self-proclaimed kings and queens of the backyard bird feeder!