July is an all red, white and Blue Jay month in Fort Bend County Texas, a suburban county near Houston. There are many of these common and recognizable birds coming to feeders as many new young are leaving the nest in the late spring and early summer in coastal Texas. This Blue Jay sunned for a long time showing the beautiful feathers. The blue feathers are not colored blue, but brown . . . the way the light passes through the feather produces the blue.
Blue Jays have complex social networks and are quite intelligent. The photo above shows the subtle markings on the face that vary by individual and make them recognizable to their social network. The jay is holding a sunflower seed, which is a favorite snack from feeders.
Some have been known to use tools. If you look carefully in the picture above, they hold their seeds or acorns while they dine and use this gripping capability to use sticks as tools. Blue Jays love acorns of all kinds and especially like Oak Trees. They are credited with spreading Oaks during the glacial period.
They are clever and cunning. To clear feeders of other birds, they may mimic the sound of Red Tail Hawks for example. They make a wide variety of calls and let their network know when danger is in the area such as a hawk, snake or other predator. The bird in the picture above has the crest down, which denotes a less aggressive bird.
The bird above is showing the crest, but is likely a young bird still developing facial markings. Year round birds and nesting birds in Fort Bend, they also migrate north and south from central to eastern US coast. However, their migration may happen one year and not the next.
In the summer months you will see many chicks and fledglings like the one above bathing. The fledgling has feathers, but will be fed by his parents for a short time upon leaving the nest until he or she learns to forage and becomes a more skilled flyer.
Chicks are downy, unable to fly, and likely have fallen from the nest. They will likely die unless returned to the nest that is usually near and above where you find the chick. It is not true that the parents will not feed them if you touch them. Return chicks to the nest, but leave fledglings alone unless they are in danger or injured. It's a good time to keep cats and dogs inside to allow the fledglings and chicks a better chance at life.
Photos copyrighted by Quail Valley resident and international birder Margaret Sloan. View her international and national bird pictures by pressing this link.
Just see a bird you don't recognize in Fort Bend? Margaret has photographed 130+ bird species just in her suburban backyard alone. Narrow your initial search by viewing her full photo album of local birds, Birds of Quail Valley by pressing this link. They are organized by types of birds, so if it's a water bird for example, you may find one that helps you narrow your search. Then if you "google in" the name of the bird, you'll get info and all kinds of information and images. Sometimes if a species is remarkably different from adult you may find nothing, contact us and we'll do our best to help.
Researched and posted by Janice Scanlan
Janice:
The bluejays in our back yard love peanuts in the shell. During the past summer, we placed about 6 peanuts at a time on our patio table. Within minutes, a bluejay swoops in, grabs a peanut and flies off. If several jays arrive, to get a bigger share of the peanuts, we have seen a jay bury his first peanut in the nearby grass, put a leave on it, and come back for a second one. We have also watched a jay put a "single" peanut in the back of it's throat and pick up a second "double" one before flying off. Yes, bluejays are smart birds.
Posted by: Herbert W. Boerstler | 09/29/2012 at 05:03 PM