After posting to the Pennsylvania Birding Facebook group a photo titled "Greedy jay," I was politely admonished for using the adjective by other users on the page.
"Smart jays cache food for future times. This is not greed," one user responded.
"Greedy, yes, but smart, to pick the biggest ones he can carry," was another response.
The blue jay is part of the family Corvidae which also includes crows according to The Cornell Lab's All About Birds website, www.allaboutbirds.org.
"Smart jays cache food for future times. This is not greed," one user responded.
"Greedy, yes, but smart, to pick the biggest ones he can carry," was another response.
The blue jay is part of the family Corvidae which also includes crows according to The Cornell Lab's All About Birds website, www.allaboutbirds.org.
| An article on the site titled "Where Is That Bird Going With That Seed? It’s Caching Food for Later" by Shailee Shah describes how and why some birds like the blue jay cache food for later. Shah wrote " ... the most fascinating reason is “caching” — the behavior of storing up food supplies in a safe place for later. This is one of the main reasons you see birds fly off with their food instead of eating at the feeder—they are setting up a personal 'insurance policy.'" "Caching is like a giant game of concentration. Caching isn’t as straight-forward as it might appear. A bird must not only fly back and forth, one or a few seeds at a time, over hundreds of trips. They also have to make sure the caches aren’t stolen and remember where all the food is hidden when hunger comes a-calling. Most common North American feeder birds can have anywhere from hundreds to thousands of separate caches scattered around their home ranges," Shah continued. Shah posted that blue jays have a specialized adaptation, a distensible esophagus, to help them become master long-term cachers. The expandable pouch in their throat and upper esophagus is called a crop. It would seem that some jays in the state are headed toward the goal of being master cachers. "Our jays will pick up as high as seven peanuts before moving on," one poster responded on the Pennsylvania Birding page. Aside from their caching abilities, jays have other interesting traits. |     |
In an article titled "22 facts about blue jays" at birdfeederhub.com, the author posted that "blue jays aren’t actually blue."
"Blue jays are identifiable by the crest on their heads and their blue, white, and black plumage. The dark pigment in their feathers is melanin. A trick of the light causes the blue color in their feathers. Scattering light through modified cells on their feather barbs’ surface makes their feathers appear to be blue," the post claimed.
This statement is backed up by a facts page on the All About Birds' site.
"The pigment in blue jay feathers is melanin, which is brown. The blue color is caused by scattering light through modified cells on the surface of the feather barbs," said the post on allaboutbirds.org.
Another site said that folks could wet down a blue jay feather and see for themselves that it would turn brown. I will have to wait until one of the jays that visit my feeder to shed a feather. I'm definitely sure it would be frowned upon to hose down a blue jay.
"Blue jays are identifiable by the crest on their heads and their blue, white, and black plumage. The dark pigment in their feathers is melanin. A trick of the light causes the blue color in their feathers. Scattering light through modified cells on their feather barbs’ surface makes their feathers appear to be blue," the post claimed.
This statement is backed up by a facts page on the All About Birds' site.
"The pigment in blue jay feathers is melanin, which is brown. The blue color is caused by scattering light through modified cells on the surface of the feather barbs," said the post on allaboutbirds.org.
Another site said that folks could wet down a blue jay feather and see for themselves that it would turn brown. I will have to wait until one of the jays that visit my feeder to shed a feather. I'm definitely sure it would be frowned upon to hose down a blue jay.
All About Birds also mentioned that blue jays can live a long time.
"The oldest known wild, banded Blue Jay was at least 26 years, 11 months old when it was found dead after being caught in fishing gear. It had been banded in the Newfoundland/Labrador/St. Pierre et Miquelon area in 1989 and was found there in 2016," the post said.
"The oldest known wild, banded Blue Jay was at least 26 years, 11 months old when it was found dead after being caught in fishing gear. It had been banded in the Newfoundland/Labrador/St. Pierre et Miquelon area in 1989 and was found there in 2016," the post said.
"Blue jays make a variety of musical sounds, and they can do a remarkable imitation of the scream of a red-shouldered hawk," said a post on www.audubon.org.
Local longtime birder Gary Edwards' echoes this statement in his book Birds of Venango County.
"Excellent mimics, they are especially adept at imitating the red-shouldered hawk. At feeders, they serve as sentinels but are not adverse to giving a false alarm to obtain the feeder for themselves."
Local longtime birder Gary Edwards' echoes this statement in his book Birds of Venango County.
"Excellent mimics, they are especially adept at imitating the red-shouldered hawk. At feeders, they serve as sentinels but are not adverse to giving a false alarm to obtain the feeder for themselves."
I would think that type of action is akin to yelling "fire" in a crowded theater. Also, technically their caching habit could also be considered hoarding. They also have been know to rob eggs and young out of the nests of other birds.
Nonetheless, it's not blue jay bashing.
It's just the blue jays’ nature and that’s just the nature of things ‘round here.
Nonetheless, it's not blue jay bashing.
It's just the blue jays’ nature and that’s just the nature of things ‘round here.
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