Jays are sensible, curious, and mischievous. If there may be hassle occurring, they’re in the midst of it. They only can’t assist themselves. I’ve been fortunate to see a lot of the jays discovered within the US and Canada. I want to share some tales of their behaviours and my experiences with them.
Canada Jay
The Canada Jay is our nationwide hen, as a result of it’s discovered all through the nation. Nicknamed the Whisky Jack, it visits campsites within the north woods or in mountain forests. They’ll land on a picnic desk, hoping the campers will share their meals with them.
Mexican Jay
Mooching a meal is widespread behaviour for a lot of jays. I’ve seen Steller’s Jays swoop down on picnickers, hopping among the many meals choices, making an attempt to seize a chew. The individuals attempt to shoo them away, however these birds are persistent. In Arizona, our information would toss path combine removed from us. It was to maintain the Mexican Jays from bothering us. However, they discovered a greater supply of meals. A campsite had just a little canine. These jays seen its full dinner bowl. They went over and helped themselves. The poor canine might solely watch and yap at them.
Blue Jay
Brash Blue Jays aren’t well-liked with different birds. They harass hawks and owls, plus they steal nestlings from different songbirds. Blue Jays are nice mimics. In Toronto, I hear them imitating Crimson-Tailed Hawk screams. In SW Florida, they mimic the cries of the Crimson-Shouldered Hawk, which is the widespread native hawk there. One concept for this behaviour is that they’re making an attempt to scare different birds off from meals sources. I feel they do it for enjoyable, because it’s a part of their repertoire of bizarre sounds.
Inexperienced Jay
Present in southern Texas and the Decrease Rio Grande Valley, the Inexperienced Jay is a gaudy, tropical resident. Pictures don’t do it justice. That is one gorgeous hen, hanging out in parks or the grounds of your B&B.
One jay that does keep removed from individuals and feeders is the Pinyon Jay. Our information took us into the northern a part of Arizona to search out them. These birds wander in massive flocks, trying to find pinyon pine to allow them to feed on the bushes’ seeds. We have been up early that day, consuming our breakfast from her truck’s tailgate. All of the sudden, we noticed a flock fly over the hilltop after which they have been gone. She instructed us that’s normally all of the views you’re going to get of that hen.
Florida Scrub-Jay
The {photograph} on the prime of this weblog is an image of me with a Florida Scrub-Jay. These birds reside in social teams year-round. They like native scrub oak habitats. That was not the case with this hen and its fellow jays. In 2018, an area birder took us out to see them. They’d made their house in a small subdivision of homes. There was an empty lot, with a few bushes, which had a tangle of bushes and vines on each. This was their territory and residential. They knew the birder, as a result of he had a protracted historical past with them, plus he all the time carried peanuts. They flew out and landed on him, anticipating their deal with. He put a peanut on my hat and there you’ve got my image. I used to be handing out peanuts to those birds and so they even flew into the open window of our automotive to get extra.
The following day a buddy and I went again there on our personal. We had met one other visiting birder, who wanted this jay for his life record. We went again to the identical spot, however no jays greeted us, even once I had treats in my fingers. My buddy and the opposite birder went to search for different birds, hoping the jays would come out later. As quickly as they left, one of many jays got here out and landed on my hand. (Critters like me!) I acquired my buddy’s consideration and instructed her to return again. As quickly because the hen noticed them method, it darted again into the tree’s tangle. It was barely seen, however the different birder noticed sufficient of it to be happy. We might hear it making comfortable sounds, most likely warning the remainder of the group to remain hidden. What a tremendous encounter with this threatened species.
Encounters with jays are enjoyable and fascinating. You by no means know what they’re going to do. Simply bear in mind to cover your lunch 😉
Observe: All images are from Wikipedia Commons, a web based supply of copyright-free images, aside from image of me with Florida Scrub-Jay (taken by a buddy).