A group of Blue Jays. Courtesy of Suzanne Labbé – Macaulay Library.
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
Draw a line on the map north and south of Austin then all points east, and you pretty much have the US year-round range of the Blue Jay. Growing up in the South Carolina low country, the “jeer jeer” or “jay jay” call of this large and handsome songbird was often my unwelcome weekend morning alarm, and I knew once they got going, they would continue all day. These bold and aggressive birds appear to fear nothing; it’s not uncommon to see them chasing and bumping into hawks in flight. One of my favorite bird cams is a Leucistic Red-tailed Hawk nesting somewhere in Tennessee, and the neighboring Blue Jays torment the parents daily.
A very social and intelligent bird of the corvid family, studies indicate that the Blue Jay can recognize and remember human faces, much like ravens and crows. They can also recognize one another – the black brindling on their face and throat vary, so it may be that there are no two alike. They prefer oak trees and are credited with helping spread the oak due to fact that acorns are one of their favorite foods, and they cache them underground for feeding on them later. They also eat seeds, fruits, grains, and sometimes even other birds. On my backyard feeder, most birds will fly off when a Blue Jay lands to grab peanuts or a mouthful of suet pellets, but the Jay doesn’t hang around the feeder to eat – its M.O. is fly in > grab the food > fly off.
Their crest tells the story of how they are feeling – the higher the crest, the higher their aggression level. It’s almost always up when they are calling. Interestingly, they tend to be silent when flying; if you hear them calling, they are most likely sitting in a tree. In the wild, they also mimic the Red-Shouldered and Red-Tailed Hawks, either to warn other Jays of the hawks’ presence or to fool other birds into thinking a hawk is nearby. In captivity, they learn to mimic human voices and meowing cats and have even been observed using tools.
Blue Jays nest in deciduous trees, like live oak or pecan, or coniferous trees, like pine, between 10 and 25 feet up. Both the male and female participate in nest building with the male mostly bringing in the materials and the female mostly building. They hatch only one brood per year of 2 to 7 eggs. Eggs incubate approximately 18 days (only the female incubates), and the nestlings remain for about 20 days. The parents will feed the nestlings only if the baby birds are in the nest – if one wanders away from the nest and begs, the parents will not feed it until it returns.
If you are looking to make a corvid friend (and who isn’t?), provide peanuts, fresh water, and native oak trees where they can glean acorns, sit, and observe. These birds may not be the actual blue bird of happiness, but they sure are fun to watch.
Compiled by Lisa S. Graham.
Sources include All About Birds (Cornell) and Audubon Field Guide.
