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The Scrub Jay
The Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) is much more interesting
and attractive than its common name implies. It is one of the two large
blue jays of the West, and is identified by lack of crest and the lighter
blue color, from the well-known dark blue Steller's Jay. The Scrub Jay
lives among the sage, chaparral, oaks and streamside woods up to 8000 feet
elevation, while the Steller's Jay frequents the conifers of higher
elevations and the humid coastal areas.
The head, wings and tail of the Scrub Jay are blue, the back is a pale
brownish, and underparts are gray. A variable dark band, or "necklace", of
blue streaked with black sets off the ashy-white throat from the grayish
belly. They are often seen perched high on an exposed branch or limb,
while they watch quietly what goes on around them; at such times their
long blue tails hang down, or are brought forward. Scrub Jay flights are
short, pitching down slopes and ending with a sweeping glide.
This jay builds a bulky nest of dry twigs, grass and moss, and lines it with
fine rootlets and horsehair (if available). It is placed usually in low dense
bushes, chaparral, or high sagebrush patches, but is sometimes in trees
thirty feet up. Three to six spotted, reddish green eggs are laid. During
the nesting season, the usually noisy parents are silent and secretive.
The food of the Scrub Jay is varied, including both animal and plant types.
Like other jays, it will on occasions prey on the eggs and nestlings of
small songbirds. However, most of its animal food consists of insects such
as wasps, bees, beetles, caterpillars, flies, bugs and spiders. Lizards,
frogs and snails are sometimes taken. Plant food includes acorns, pine
seeds and grains.
The harsh "check, check, check" often given as it flies from one perch to
another, is higher than the similar call of the Steller's Jay. One of the
commonest calls is a shriek with a rising inflection. When mildly alarmed,
a Scrub Jay whacks its perch with its bill.
The range is widespread in western United States, from southwest Washington
through Oregon, southern Idaho, Utah, southern Wyoming and south into
Mexico. There are several sub-species, including one in Florida.
This summer, in our backyard in Holladay, hybrid sunflowers were grown,
with heads thirteen inches in diameter on stalks up to fourteen feet in
height. We often wondered how the birds would gather the seeds from these
large heads hanging face down at such a height, but when the seeds ripened
we soon learned. Observations were made of several Scrub Jays. They would
fly in and cling upside down to the sunflower heads, grab a seed, then fly
to the nearest tree limb to break it open. Holding the seed with their very
strong feet, they would pick and pound with their beaks until the shell
fell off. Also, they would spring straight up from the ground, sometimes
to five feet, to reach the lower sunflower heads that hung down, grab
a seed, and fly to a nearby tree or shrub to eat it.
We placed a mature sunflower head on the patio, which the Scrub Jays soon
found and quickly gulped the seeds. If the seeds were small, they swallowed
them whole, taking six to nine seeds at a time. They flew in several times
a day. We gathered all the large, mature heads and put them in boxes under
a table on the patio for winter feeding. The jays soon found them, so seeds
are now doled out to them each day. They fly to the patio railing and survey
the situation before hopping down to obtain the seeds scattered at the west
end of the patio floor. They are polite, each waiting nearby while one
obtains his fill, then fly in when it leaves.
One day a jay was seen trying to break a sunflower seed on some large clods
of clay. Not succeeding, it picked up a clod about the size of an olive
and began pounding the seed with it, but had no success. Then it picked up
the seed and flew to a nearby limb and opened it. These jays are smart,
clever and beautiful birds.
-- by Marie Allred Atkinson
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