The Blue Jay

Blue jay - Cyanocitta Cristata

The blue jay may very well be the most easily recognized bird in my area and many other areas. Sometimes, you can hear them calling out in the morning to announce the sun. Still, there is more to these birds than the noise they make. You may not believe it but these birds are actually intelligent. They have the uncanny ability to imitate other birds. One bird in my neighborhood actually learned to mimic a human being. We would hear "Kittie, Kittie!" and then look around outside and see the words coming out of the mouth a blue jay. I can only guess what fun that bird had with the neighborhood cats. These birds often harass other birds. It's not for fun either. See Blue Jays feed on a variety of things including insects, nuts, seeds, eggs, and nestlings. You may even see a blue jay burying nuts and seeds in your yard. Yes, you heard me eggs and nestlings. I have more blue jay dietary surprises for you. I discovered in researching this article that these birds may also feed on mice, treefrogs, snails, and even fish. Now you know why, other birds can be seen chasing Blue Jays away from their nests. Just as other birds may chase blue jays away from their nests, Blue jays also seem to be quite brave when they go after crows and hawks. Birds that might decide to make a meal out of a blue jay or blue jay baby. Their nests are made from twigs, moss, and leaves. The eggs which may number between 3 to 6 eggs are olive or blue in color. They are typically incubated for 17 days and will fend for themselves three weeks after hatching.

One of the joys of feeding birds is seeing the multitude of behaviors that birds exhibit. You not only are helping out the birds in your area, but it's very relaxing also. You'll not feed birds though, you might have raccoons, squirrels and a variety of other mammals. You feed potential up to a dozen or more species of birds through the year. Behaviors that you see might include courtship, mating, feeding, predators making kills, different feeding techniques and much more. If you've never feed birds before, you may want to start. It's a truly unique experience. It's one you can include the whole family in, so grab a field guide for birds and get to feeding.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Jay

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Blue_Jay_dtl.html

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Cyanocitta_cristata.html