Sightings: Steller's Jays (Cyanocitta stelleri)

THE ORIGIN

June 28, 2007

Several years ago, I noticed a banded Steller's Jay sneaking kibble from our cat's food dish. Having no experience with bird studies, I wondered how and why that particular bird had been captured, and by whom. At that time, (before peanuts) jays were surprise visitors appearing on glorious, sunny days for brief encounters, stealing bits of food, then calling loudly from high branches of redwood trees.

Subsequently, I learned from my friend, Jeff Jacobsen, about Pia and Dr. Jeff Black's study of the "social system and ecological relationships that drive the distribution and dynamics of the local jay population" (Wildlife Department, Humboldt State University--see link below). Pia placed a feeder/trap at eye level outside my family room window where I could see the birds coming and going each day. I looked forward to watching their dazzling-blue plumage, jaunty crests, and trickster manners.

Each of us watching feeders have stories to tell about the relationships, habits, and unique characteristics of individual birds that frequent our places. I hope this blog will allow us to share our observations and images, as well as provide an opportunity to share our delight in these curious, smart, and at times, raucous birds. c.arnold

Thursday, July 5, 2007

00:10:00

Birds in Order of Arrival:

1. mwlblb chases morlb
2. mrgo
3. morlb
4. unbanded shopper chases mwlblb
5. mlbob
6. mwbw
7. mgrr
8. mplbp
9. mwrg mgrr’s mate
10. juvenile
11. unbanded (red bill)

Notes:

Last night was July 4th. Relentless boom of fireworks filled the heavy, overcast sky with splashes of light. The acrid residue of smell wafted clear into the house and I thought of the jays, roosting in redwood trees. I briefly heard a “squa, squa,” from a high place—the first I’ve heard a jay call after dusk. Our idea of celebrating must be so frightening for them.

Yet, they were here this morning, ready as ever for a peanut feast, unscathed by the night’s festivities. Once again, the males arrived first. Morlb (Red Eye) is now a regular and was chased by mwlblb (Tame Bird). Unbanded Shopper demonstrated a particularly aggressive move, flapping his wings, hopping towards mwlblb, who yielded and flew to a new perch.

Red Bill landed. He has distinctly orange feathers, the color of a robin’s breast, above his bill. I think of him as an elder. He stands tall, almost regal. The other males fly around him and he remains, undisturbed. Jeff J., after describing Red Eye’s orange feathers to me, said Pia associated orange feathers with age. It’s seems unusual that I haven’t seen a single bird with orange feathers and now have seen two in the last two days. Makes me wonder if the two birds are related, or maybe they're both just old.

My cousin Kristin has asked me if I’ve named the birds. Megan, my daughter, asks the same question. I wobble between writing a narrative--full of personalities, anthropomorphisms and conjectures; and documenting the evidence—those precise observations a scientist would make and later enter in a database. I feel as clumsy as a baby jay, stumbling over a peanut. But, yes, Kristin and Megan, I am naming the birds. It looks like this:

1. mwlblb Tame Bird
2. mrgo Mr. Go
3. morlb Red Eye
4. unbanded shopper Shopper
5. mlbob Mrs. Go
6. mwbw Checkers
7. mgrr Droopy
8. mplbp Princesa (Cesa)
9. mwrg Wringer
10. juvenile unbanded
11. unbanded (red bill) Red Bill

Clearly, this is only a start. There’s mbrg--Trapper, I think, because he spends so much time in the trap, and Bessy for rrmo because she is a mess, a Messy Bessy.