By Jeff Tome
Dogs, like children, notice things that I don’t. One of the joys of teaching has always been the excitement of discovery that a child has when they find something new. They are shorter and have fewer ideas of what they will see, so they find things that adults miss. I was surprised to enjoy that same phenomenon while walking the dog.
Like a child, she is short and observant and simply sees things that I miss. She stopped dead in her tracks the other day to stare at a bush with such ferocious intensity that I thought the bush might erupt out of the ground and attack. Instead, there was a Blue Jay quietly sitting on a branch and staring at us.
Blue Jays are one of those birds that people either love or hate. Many people tell me that Blue Jays are bullies that chase the other birds away or that they eat all their birdseed. Others remark on the beautiful blue of their feathers, on how they warn other birds of danger with their raucous calls, or how they always seem to travel in a tribe. So which is it? Are they beautiful family oriented protectors or clannish birdseed mafia pushing other birds out to claim their share?
To answer that question, I delved into a book by one of my favorite authors: John Eastman. His bird guides take a deep dive into the natural history and ecology of each bird. His information-dense section on Blue Jays in “Birds of Forest, Yard, & Thicket” takes up seven pages. It also hedges the information a lot; the Blue Jay section is liberally sprinkled with words like “probably”, “apparently” and “It seems that”.
Apparently, one of the most recognizable birds in the area also has a lot about it that we don’t know for sure. I take great satisfaction in knowing that a bird many people know has great amounts of information about it that we don’t know.
Blue Jays are full of delightful weird facts. First, they aren’t blue. I know, my brain exploded a bit when I learned that too, but it is true. Blue Jays are not blue, but their feathers reflect blue light, so that they appear blue. This may seem like a fine point, but it is delightfully true. Cardinals are red because their feathers are red, all the way through. Blue Jay feathers, when held up to the light, simply look dark. The feather color changes in the light, sometimes looking bright blue, sometimes almost gray. It depends on the light levels.
Blue Jays do travel in groups through the winter, sometimes in large flocks, sometimes in small groups. Since they are larger birds, they do seem to intimidate the smaller birds at the feeder. They stream into the birdfeeder and seem to eat way more than their fair share, gulping down seeds as fast as they can and flying away. Truthfully, they aren’t eating those seeds. They are storing them in a throat pouch and flying away to hide them for later.
Blue Jays empty their throat pouch and cache (hide) seeds all over to retrieve later. Last year, I put up a game camera at Audubon to capture videos of otters and beavers in one of the freshwater springs. I got numerous videos of a Blue Jay hiding peanuts near the water instead. The jay would land on a mound sticking out of the water, push some grass out of the way, and hide a peanut in a little hole there before covering the hole back up again. While peanuts don’t grow here, Blue Jays are known for hiding acorns far from the oak trees they came from. They are one of the main animals to plant oak forests, at least when they leave some of the acorns buried. They regenerate forests at a faster rate than squirrels or other animals.
Blue Jays are raucously loud in the winter. They announce their presence at the feeder with a distinct “Jay, Jay, Jay” call. They also mimic hawks very well, sometimes announcing the hawks’ presence by imitating the call in such a way that other birds hear it and fly away. Sometimes, jays seem to imitate a hawk to spook other birds from the food so they can have the feeder to themselves. (Note the use of the “seem to” in that last sentence, showing that scientists aren’t totally sure.)
Blue Jays make a variety of other noises: clicks, little warbly calls and more. My mother has a flock of Blue Jays behind her house that make a whole bunch of different noises. To this day, she think that, if I don’t know a bird call, I just call it a Blue Jay.
Blue Jays, raucous in the winter, are quiet in the summer. They quietly find a place to race a family, hiding the nest 10 – 20 feet up in a tree. They don’t make much noise then, perhaps (Note the iffy language again) not wanting to draw attention to their nest.
They have good reason to avoid drawing attention to nests. Blue Jays know that other birds, such as crows, will come and eat their eggs and young if they are seen. They know this because that is what they do to other birds. They supplement their spring diet of nuts and seeds with the eggs and young of other birds. According to Eastman’s book, each Blue Jay in a forest costs the woodland seven pairs of open nesting birds, but perhaps adds two pairs of cavity nesting birds.
In short, there are plusses and minuses to having the Blue Jay mafia visit. On the good side, the help grow and spread oak forests and serve as a danger warning system for other birds. On the bad side, they gobble up food to eat later and eat the young of other birds. Like most things, it’s up to you how you feel about them.
Audubon Community Nature Center builds and nurtures connections between people and nature. ACNC is located just east of Route 62 between Warren and Jamestown. The trails are open from dawn to dusk and birds of prey can be viewed anytime the trails are open. The Nature Center is open from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. daily except Sunday when it opens at 1 p.m. More information can be found online auduboncnc.org or by calling (716) 569-2345.
Jeff Tome is Public Engagement Specialist at Audubon Community Nature Center.
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