Do you like blue jays?
I do, but I often encounter people who don’t.
Everyone agrees that blue jays are pretty but a lot of people don’t like their manner. When a blue jay enters the room, he takes up a lot of space.
Lesley The Bird Nerd changed her mind about blue jays as she got to know them in her backyard in Canada. She learned about their intelligence and faithfulness, and how to identify them as individuals.
Watch her video to see what’s cool about blue jays. Lesley saves the best for last.
p.s. Blue jay faces are unique. Here’s Lesley’s video on how she identifies them as individuals.
(video by Lesley The Bird Nerd. Subscribe to her videos here.)
Love to put out peanuts in the shells on my deck railing for them. They are always welcome and comical to watch them select the biggest nuts first.
Thank you! That was a lovely video! I love having Blue Jays in my yard, but I now I know a lot more about them. They really are a beautiful treasure.
I’ll watch out for bluejays more, now; though they tend to stay on the other side of our street. What part of Canada is Lesley from? Interesting accent.
I put peanuts out for them too. They are obnoxious but entertaining!
I have a large saucer of water I keep on my deck all year and a pair of Blue Jays come almost every day between 3 & 4 pm to drink & bathe. They have done this for a number of years. They wait & watch for each other. Other birds wait in the trees until they leave.
Yes! We probably have 10 to 20 regulars that come to feed on the in shell peanuts. And some smaller birds also.
I placed a few feeders “outside my window” yesterday and placed a small assortment of foods there, striped and black oil sunflower and a mix of seeds as well as peanuts still in their shell. I wasn’t back in the house for more than a few minutes when I noticed 4 Blue Jays, one at a time, sitting on the one feeder and picking up the peanuts in the shell and flying away, only to come back a few minutes later to choose some more. One Blue Jay in particular, would pick up a shell then put it back in the pile, then pick up another, and put it back and pick up a third or fourth before choosing the one that was “just right” and flying away. A few minutes later, it was back choosing just the right shell to take to a tree and peck open. I didn’t notice this habit with the other Blue Jays. What might be the reason it would pick an choose before taking a shell to peck open? Could it be guessing the contents before leaving, or trying to find a “fresh” one to take away or something else? I saw the same thing last year but hadn’t noticed if it was the same bird or not. It was enjoyable to watch the bird picking and choosing in the same as I look for a cantaloupe in the grocery store. I enjoy your Blog and read the Bird Behavior section each day.
Larry, that is really interesting behavior. Blue jays cache food for the winter so that explains the back-and-forth. I’m not sure about the choosing, though. Perhaps the bird had the time to be picky (no pressure to leave quickly) so he decided to pick the best peanut each time. Thanks for sharing.