Over the years I have been taking an informal survey. It has come to my attention that the blue jay, Cyanocitta cristata, is suffering from bad press. “I hate Jays. They are so noisy,” is the usual response I get to an opening gambit about the blue jay. I used to feel somewhat the same way, with my feelings compounded by the knowledge that blue jays will opportunistically eat other birds’ chicks.
Well, I have a bird feeder. I have a yard that has been developed specifically to shelter wildlife, and blue jays are part of that wildlife. Consequently, I have begun observing the life and habits of blue jays. My original attitude has modified considerably. In fact, I rather admire the blue jay now, and this is why.
Blue jays are especially noticeable when calling raucously, but they have several other voices. There is a very gentle falling call they use when they are talking love talk. They chirrup and chirp quietly to their babies. There are several other vocalizations that seem to be directions about living and hunting. Sometimes there is a musical sound like drops falling into a rain-barrel. The raucous shriek is usually alarm or warning, and the little birds in the yard listen for it. They know that when that alarm goes off, there is a hawk or a cat in the neighborhood, and they cut and run if they hear it.
The blue jay nest is described in the Audubon Guide to Birds as “a coarsely built nest of sticks, lined with grass and well concealed in a crotch or forked branch.” “Coarsely built” is an overstatement. The blue jay nests I have seen are little more than a platform with barely enough floor to keep the eggs from falling through. Usually there are no sides at all, and if there is a strong wind or crowded conditions in the nest, quite often a baby will fall out of the nest onto the ground.
Jays seem quite able to adapt to new ideas. One year, I planted some roses and day lilies in my new border. I really wanted to keep the plant tags from the nursery with them so I could learn their scientific names, so I stuck each plastic tag in the dirt next to the plants. A few days later, I was out admiring my new garden and watering the transplants, and I noticed that a couple of the tags were lying on the ground instead of being stuck in the dirt. “How odd,” I thought. “What could have pulled those out?” Then I got a little hot, because I noticed that several tags were missing altogether. Fuming a bit, I went back in the house. I was sitting at my desk, writing a letter or something, and I happened to look out the window and there was a blue jay, in my new garden, tugging on something. “What in the world is he at?” I wondered. Then I realized he was pulling out one of my plant tags.
Bemused, I watched him successfully extract it and then fly up into the elm right over my patio. “What the hell?!” was my next thought. Sorry, but that is what it was. I was curious enough to allow him (or her) to steal a couple of more tags. Suddenly, it dawned on me. My plant tags were being used as foundation beams, the perfect subflooring for a nest. I scurried to find my binoculars so I could locate the construction site. Sure enough, there were all my missing plant tags, neatly arranged to form the base of a blue jay’s nest. After that year, I started keeping a map of my plantings. So far the jays have not figured out how to steal things from my desk.
I have noticed that blue jays form clans rather than flocks. When they arrive in the spring, the males are individuals competing for territory. This involves quite a lot of yelling and not a few aerial combats. The ladies sit around and watch the action. Once the boys have established who owns what area, they begin to call for mates.
The clan forms after the first batch of babies are born. The adolescent jays do not leave the neighborhood. They hang around with their parents and provide extra security for the second and third nests of babies. I have noticed that un-mated jays will also join the grouping, as long as they are properly respectful to the nesting pair. I have no way of knowing if they are related from the previous year, but I suspect they may be.
Once after a strong afternoon thunderstorm, I found a young jay that had been blown out of the nest. It was squatting in my side yard, where there are a couple of elms, some shrubs, and a small redbud tree. It was starting to have pin feathers and lacked just a few days of being ready to fly on its own. I picked it up and put it in the redbud, hoping to keep it safe from the neighborhood cats. The silly thing immediately hopped out and fluttered, well, more like plummeted, to the ground. I was extremely concerned about its safety, but I needn’t have worried. As I was trying to convince it to stay up off the ground, it made a distressed squeak, and within seconds I was surrounded by a battalion of blue jays. Not just the parents showed up, but all the siblings from previous hatches and a few interested neighbors as well. I looked around a little leerily, as several of them were making passes at my head, and hastily placed the chick back on a redbud branch and backed away, hands up to show I was not a kidnapper. The chick promptly let go of the branch and fell back to the ground.
“Fine,” I said to myself. “On your own head be it,” and walked off. I kept an eye on the situation during the next few days from my bathroom window. The chick was never without at least two blue jays on sentry duty, stationed in a nearby tree. It found a comfortable patch of grass to hide out in, and regular deliveries of food were made to it.
I was quite amused by the predicament my cats found themselves in. There was a jay on sentry duty watching the back door who notified everyone in the area as soon as one of my cats emerged through the cat door. Mike and Smokey began to look positively hounded as the days went by. They finally decided that they would just as soon not venture over to that side of the house at all, since they suffered several buffetings and head pecks when they dared.
After about four days, the chick learned to fly and joined the others in the trees. The clan had successfully guarded the chick until it could get around on its own.
Blue jays are omnivores. I have already mentioned their infamous habit of eating other bird’s chicks. Well, they would LIKE to have that tasty tidbit, but I don’t think they are often very successful in their quest for that particular hors d’oeuvre. When the robins in this yard hatch a batch of eggs, they do not leave the nest unattended for several days, until their chicks are big enough to not be a mouthful. There have been several very fierce interspecies battles as the robins guard their young. The jays just want an easy bite, they have no stomach for a fight and leave quickly when Papa Robin starts throwing his weight around.
What blue jays do eat is whatever they can get their beaks on. They are particularly fond of dog food. I have seen dogs that meekly laid by while the jays ate their food rather than suffer being pecked on the head. Ruby doesn’t dally when her food arrives, she eats it post haste.
The jays visit my bird feeders and really like the black oil sunflower seeds I put out. They have displayed an interesting behavior with regard to seeds. They eat for a while, and then pick up two or three seeds and go someplace and carefully stuff them into the dirt there. I have found sunflower plants growing in all my potted plants, and frequently find them planted in my vegetable garden and flower borders as well. Usually if they are in a convenient spot, I will just let them grow.
Jays also pursue large bugs with gusto. The year we had a bumper hatch of cicadas, the jays spent every afternoon chasing them down as the adult beetles made their mating flights amidst the trees They also go after june bugs and Japanese beetles, a sight that is calculated to endear them to the organic gardener, which is what I am.
But the thing that really changed my attitude towards them happened the year that we were infested with tent caterpillars. Those pests were denuding the trees out back, and were all over the county. I went out every day and broke open caterpillar nests, and the jays would immediately go and feast on the revealed worms. Of course, I was not able to reach every tent, some were way too high.
Eventually, the caterpillars finished eating, and started looking for a place to pupate. They left the trees they had feasted on, and crawled up into every shed and all the nooks of our privacy fence, and wove themselves into their cocoons. One afternoon, I was out turning my compost pile, and I watched a blue jay inspecting the frame my pole beans climbed on. He was seeking out the tent caterpillar cocoons, and whenever he found one he tore it open and ate the occupant.
At that moment, I decided that whatever their faults, I liked blue jays, and I haven’t changed my mind.
One of the things I learned in my childhood was to always look up when the blue jays started making a racket. I don’t know how many times we found snakes in the trees and the jays dive bombing them to keep them out of their nests.
That’s a new one for me. I knew they were intelligent.
Hello,
What sort of dog food does the jay eat? dry or wet?
Thanks
The jays I have met eat dry dog food exclusively. They don’t care what brand it is. However, I should add that my dog never gets anything but dry dog food so the jays have no opportunity to eat wet at this place. It is entirely possible that blue jays would eat wet dog food if it was available.
My wife and I just noticed a flock of Blue Jays and Robins scouring the ground (45F and wet) eating something. Also we witnessed a several Blue Jays seemingly eating something from the ground and then just prior to leaving in flight to a tree, they pick up a leaf and place it over the spot they were eating and tamp it several times with their beak.
We have never witnessed that. Although I did watch a crow pick up three soda crackers that I had thrown out onto the winter snow and proceed to stack them so that he could carry them all off at once! I knew they were smart, but……!
Georgetown, Illinois
October 24, 2009
How cool. I’ve never seen blue jays behave like that although I have caught them planting sunflower seeds on a regular basis. I guess that is why we watch birds, isn’t it? Because they really are quite smart. And interesting.
I have blue jays that steal my strawberries. It is very annoying!! My dog is afraid of them so she watches them from a safe distance. They also steal her dry food as well and she won’t go near them. This is interesting because she is a bird dog that catches and eats doves very easily (not like it is a real challenge- most of them make it pretty easy!).
I would like to keep them from eating the berries and tomatoes without keeping them away from the bugs that they help eat.
Any ideas?
The only thing that I have found that keeps birds out of berries and tomatoes is a physical barrier like bird netting. In our experience, it is worth it to pay the extra to get a good quality netting that you can use for several seasons. It is also important to have a way to suspend the netting above whatever it is that you are trying to keep the birds out of, or they will just land on it and reach through. What has worked for us is the bird net that has I showed in this post: https://healingmagichands.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/how-to-keep-birds-out-of-your-grapes-2nd-edition/
What I can say from bitter personal experience is that birds are wily and quite motivated to eat fruit. Good luck.
Your dog is like many dogs. After having been pecked on the head enough times, they decide blue jays are just too mean to mess with.
I just found and returned a baby blue jay back to his nest in our front yard. The baby is only about two weeks old (appears to be), and sprawled on the grass beneath the oak tree nest. When I came upon him I grabbed a ladder and a cloth and gently climbed the ladder about 10 feet to return the baby to the nest. I communicated to the parents that I wanted to put the baby back in the nest and waited a few minutes, then lightly prompted the baby bird back into the twig nest; he seemed confused and tiny legs sprawled, but eventually made it back into the nest.
Do you think the birdie parents will accept him back? He was only out for a couple of hours, two or three at the most.
Not only will they accept him back, they will be absolutely delighted. My experience has been that they know exactly where the baby is even if you don’t see them around all the time. If you had left him on the ground they probably would have cared for him until he got old enough to fly (maybe 2 days) but him being in the nest will make it a lot easier.
Thank you dear Ellen (is your name Ellen? for some reason my intuition is telling me I read your name Ellen somewhere on this page but I can’t find it right now) for your kind response.
It looks like the babies aren’t ready to fly yet still, but they are happily consuming worms and bugs brought in by the parent jays. They bring joy to my world =)
I hope you and your husband are having a wonderful, blessed, relaxing and peaceful time in your living-home.
love n light,
C
Close: Ellie Glad the jays are doing well.