Thursday, October 22, 2009

Blue Jays Everywhere


I’ve been keeping an eagle eye out for birds the last day or two, hoping to report on some “special” bird. But the most conspicuous birds in my yard this week have been Blue Jays.

So what’s NOT special about a Blue Jay?

I asked myself this to understand why I was willing to overlook this showy, noisy bird? The answer: there’s NOTHING not special (excuse the double negative) about this colorful bird! In fact, this “common” bird deserves nothing less than a real tribute. So let me give you mine.

Blue Jays are handsome birds. A quick glance at this photo (courtesy of Ken Thomas) will convince you of that. Blue Jays are social birds and, like crows, they hang out together. I enjoy watching an entire group of these large, flashy birds swoop down into my trees and then onto my bird feeders. These birds are not “picky” eaters. They’ll eat seeds, nuts, insects, fruit, grains, and even other small animals. (I’ve never seen this but read about it on All About Birds.) My sister, who lives on a residential street in Gettysburg, feeds peanuts in a shell to the squirrels and Blue Jays. The latter dive onto her porch to pick up the daily offering and fly off again.

But what makes Blue Jays special to me are their range of calls and vocalizations. Like Northern Cardinals, who also have an interesting musical repertoire, these jays make all kinds of sounds. They have a harsh call something like jeeah or jay (Peterson’s Guide), but also a delightful gurgling sound, described as queedle, queedle. They also whistle musically; after all, Blue Jays are songbirds. But more, they even imitate Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks. In fact, their imitations of a Red-tailed hawk have fooled me more than once.

Find out much more about these wonderful birds at Cornell Lab’s All About Birds web site. In a brief visit, you’ll learn much more than you ever knew. I did. And the more you learn about a bird, the more you appreciate that bird next time you see one.

Till next time. Keep birds in your heart!

Georgia Anne Butler

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