Bird Spotlight-A Series

Blue Jay-#2

In my first article, I highlighted the Black-Capped Chickadee. This bird, the Blue Jay, is very different for sure, but beautiful none the less. The Blue Jay is much larger, with a bold personality for sure.

One similarity is that these birds also live in Central NY year-round. In fact, we had the Blue Jays nest in our yard this summer and enjoyed watching the young ones. We didn’t find the nest but could tell approximately where it was by observing their activity. They normally build their nest 10 to 25 feet high in trees, which we have (tall pines) bordering the North and West side of our property.

You will normally find that Blue Jays prefer to eat from platform feeders and enjoy sunflower seed, but will eat mixed seed. They also love peanuts. It is well known that they are bossy and aggressive, so it is important to have feeders that the smaller birds can use such as tube feeders.

Along with the Black-Capped Chickadee, these birds are normally the first to arrive at my feeders in the morning. They are hard to photograph since they are very skittish.

Even though they are in our area year-round, they do migrate (some of them) but their migration patterns are not well understood. Sometimes they migrate, sometimes not. When they do, not all do.

Interesting Facts

The oldest banded wild Blue Jay was older than 26 years when it was found dead trapped in some fishing gear.

There are other types of Jays in other areas of the country including the Florida Scrub-Jay, Steller’s Jay, Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay, and the California Scrub-Jay.