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Post by NellyDee on Mar 9, 2016 9:15:39 GMT
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Post by rowanberry on Mar 13, 2016 9:43:46 GMT
I think it's interesting that your jays seem to spend quite a lot of time ground feedings, while mine stick to the birdtable. They'll usually only go on the ground if they drop a nut, and they'll carry it back up to the table or into a tree to eat it. Your gang is a funny lot...they appear to squabble, but there doesn't seem to be any real animosity- they just jump about alot.  I don't have anywhere near as many as you do! (about four is our maximum, but it's usually only two or three.) I've noticed over time that they are actually rather quiet birds...the screech that they are so famous for I've only heard when something has badly frightened them. They will chat to each other, making a soft "mrrrrow mrrrrow" call that almost sounds like a cat. If I'm putting their food out, I'll make the same noise back to them, which they seem to think is funny.... (not sure if birds have a sense of humour, but this one looked like he found my attempts to speak their language amusing!)  Amused JayIs your gang is a bachelor flock? My group is made up of an original pair of parents along with one or two of their young ones that haven't left yet...so I wondered if yours talked to each other in the same way. Just realised, going back through the first photos I took of the jays that they first appeared in the garden in 2011... wow, five years! When they first turned up I was using a little folding plastic table to put food out on for the birds- had a few acorns left over from an autumn display that I put out one snowy day, and that was it. They've been here ever since.  |
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Post by NellyDee on Mar 13, 2016 17:09:21 GMT
That is a lovely photograph, almost looks as if it is shyly saying "I love you".
I think my lot are males, been here 6-7 years, generally they are reasonably quiet, except when they have young ones, then there will be up to 15 going from feeding area to feeding area(noisy!). I think then the youngsters and the ladies get chased away, and the gang of 5 settle down again to their normal routines, which is keeping out those birds they don't like and watching squirrel bury nuts, then digging them up and re-burying them elsewhere.
They still yell when they see me appear, I like to think they are saying hello, but I think they are still in the mind set that I will shout at them, so it is a warning to the others. Mind as soon as I am back indoors they are down like a shot to the feeders.
Got a real surprise yesterday while watching my wee Nutty, on the veranda eating peanuts and one of the jays flew in to get a nut and immediately veered round and flew off when seeing Nutty, who is considerably smaller. Surely they are not scared of squirrels?
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My gang of Jays by Helen Skelton, on Flickr
