We’ve got about 20-30 of them, they are impossible to get a count of with their constant movement. Blue wings hoppin’ and boppin’ with their black head crest flopping one way and another. The crest gives them an expressive to goofy look in their bold bird feeder raids. As one of the most noticeable, in-your-face, noisy, and brash birds of the foothills, the Steller’s Jay is a common sight and sound. Not to be mistaken for a Bluejay, these blue Jays are distinctive in their black feathered crests and black head and shoulders with white to light blue markings above their eyes.
When I hang a freshly filled bird feeder, moments later, a Jay is making the feeder spin and flinging seed onto the ground to other waiting jays, songbirds, and squirrels below. Like their corvid cousins, the Canada Jays (written about in a previous post) the Steller’s Jays are a constantly scavenging bird that will consume a wide variety of foods from the usual seeds, berries, and nuts, to small reptiles, to raiding the nests of the smaller birds, stealing eggs and even nestlings (sorry to put that image in your head, but, 'hey, circle of life, kids!') Unlike the Canada Jays, they are not as bold with humans and will wait for you to leave your picnic site before searching for scraps. (Additional note: please leave picnic and campsites as clean as possible as there are surprising ripple effects of wildlife consuming human food. A topic I'll cover in a future post.) They are a part of the forest inhabitants' cooperation in survival when they hide seeds meant for future winter meals. Most of these seeds are forgotten and left to germinate, helping the tree species to propagate.
What stands out about the Steller’s Jay the most though, is their sound, or rather, sounds. Many different calls indicate a continuous dialogue between the jays of the news and the politics of their day. They are well known to mimic other birds and animals, most notably in the Colorado Foothills area, the cry of a Red-tail Hawk. Other mimicking can sound like squirrels, chickens, other animals, and even mechanical sounds. The communication purposes of these calls are still being studied, and theories are broad, but they might be used to move competing birds away from a feeder, impressing a potential mate, protecting a nest or food source, or warnings of predators or humans nearby. Certain calls will be used when mobbing a bird of prey in the vicinity or confrontations between jays for territory or other issues.
They do keep together as a ‘party’ or ‘band’ of jays and form long-term mating bonds that stick together even outside of the breeding season. Hence, the noisy familial discussions and arguments. Along with the other corvids, such as crows, these birds fascinate and irritate humans a great deal. Perhaps it is likely due to the connections shared of vocalizing their chatting, gossiping, arguments, politics, and relationships being played out for all to hear in their varied calls, screeches, and squawks. Perhaps that’s what all our human interactions sound like to them. It feels all too familiar.
Sources:
- https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Stellers_Jay/id
- https://www.summitdaily.com/news/summit-outside-stellers-jay-not-your-ordinay-blue-bird/
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/stellers-jay
- https://ridgefieldfriends.org/species-spotlight-stellers-jay/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steller%27s_jay
Special thanks to It'stheMoonArt and GDP for their input, proofing, and internet savvy.
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Steller's Jay