Blue Jays

Male and Female Blue Jays

Some interesting facts about one of our favorite backyard birds: the blue jay. These colorful and intelligent birds are always a joy to watch and hear and have amazing abilities and behaviors. Here are a few interesting things about blue jays.

- Blue jays are not really blue! Their feathers have no blue pigment, but they reflect blue light due to a special structure on their surface. If you get a blue jay wet, its feathers will turn brown!

- Blue jays are omnivorous, meaning they eat both plants and animals. They love acorns, nuts, seeds, berries, and insects. They can crack open hard shells with their strong beaks and sometimes hoard and store food for later.

- Blue jays are very vocal and have a variety of calls and sounds. They can imitate the scream of a hawk to scare away other birds or predators, or to warn their fellow jays of danger. They also make squeaks, clicks, rattles, and piping notes.

- Blue jays are monomorphic, meaning males and females look the same. The only way to tell them apart is by their size (males are slightly larger) or by their behavior (females are more dominant in courtship groups).

- Blue jays are long-lived birds. In the wild, they can live up to 7 years on average, but some have lived much longer. The oldest known wild blue jay was almost 27 years old when it died!

- Blue jays are very smart and can use tools to get food. In captivity, they have been seen using sticks or scraps of paper to bring food closer to them from outside their cages. They can also manipulate locks and learn from their mistakes.

If you want to attract them to your backyard, you can offer them sunflower seeds, peanuts, corn kernels, or suet. They will also appreciate a birdbath or a fountain where they can drink and bathe.

Juvenile Blue Jay

Thanks for reading. More tk….