I'm also used to seeing Stellar's Jays when I lived in Colorado.
Source: Wikipedia
Technically, the bird I saw in Portland was a Western Scrub Jay. There are three subspecies of Scrub Jays and their range goes from Washington to Mexico.
Source: Wikipedia
Jays are part of the crow family which may explain the raucous and peculiar calls I hear from MY jays. One in particular almost sounds like they are yodeling. They are also known for mimicking hawks. It is not known whether the intent of imitating a hawk is to warn others a hawk is around or to fake other birds out. In fact MY jays are the only ones actually called Blue Jay. They prefer the edge of forest areas where there are oak trees or feeders close by. They eat insects, nuts, fruit, seeds and grains, and rarely have been known to raid other nests for eggs or nestlings.
Blue is not the only color jays come in. There is also the Gray Jay...
(also known as the Canada jay or Whiskey Jack) Source: Wikipedia
black jays known as the Piapiac...
Source: Wikipedia
the Green Jay...
Source: Wikipedia
the Brown Jay....
Source: Wikipedia
and various combinations of all those colors.
Black-headed Jay or Lanceolated Jay Source: Wikipedia
Lidth's Jay Source: Wikipedia
Biddulph's Ground-jay Photo by Björn Anderson Source: Oriental Bird Images
White-throated Magpie-jay Source: Wikipedia
Plush-crested Jay Source: Wikipedia
Beautiful Jay Source: Wikipedia
Well, you get the idea. There are over 40 species of jays and, yes, the bird just above is actually called a Beautiful Jay. As cheeky as they are, I think I still like MY jays the best!
We had one of those scrub jays at the cabin one year. I know it's not their territory so it must have been on its way further west. We also have the gray jays (or camp robbers as they are also known) but not too many. Tons of stellars of course!
ReplyDeleteThat scrub jay must have been vacationing at the cabin too! :-)
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