[birdky] RPT: Blue Jay "bad guy"
- From: "Palmer-Ball, Brainard (EPPC OOS KNPC)" <Brainard.Palmer-Ball@xxxxxx>
- To: "BIRDKY" <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2008 12:16:26 -0500
This morning I was filling up the feeders outside my mom's house in
Jefferson County when I heard the vocalizations of a Cooper's Hawk. I
looked over because the sound seemed to be originating pretty close by,
but there was no hawk sitting there in the tree. Then I realized it must
be a Blue Jay ... nowadays they frequently imitate the Cooper's call,
although not nearly as much as the call of Red-shouldered Hawks (which
is well-known to most birders).
I stepped around my truck for a better vantage point and sure enough,
there was a Blue Jay sitting nearby in the tree. It soon flew over to
above the feeders and gave the Cooper's Hawk call again several times as
I watched its throat swell and its body bow (something they frequently
do when they are vocalizing); then it switched to a very nice rendition
of an American Crow's "caw-caw-caw" several times, then switched back to
Cooper's Hawk, THEN switched to a few phrases of the Red-shoulder call
... then back to American Crow ... and so on ... all one right after
another in short sequences with intervening pauses of a few seconds. I
had never heard such an array of "tough guy" calls from a jay, always
figuring they did only one imitation at any given time.
As I stood there wishing I had a tape recorder, I was thinking to myself
... well the only thing it's missing from its repertoire is the shrill
scream of a Red-tailed Hawk. No sooner than that thought had passed
through my mind, and sure enough, what did it cut loose with but a loud
Red-tail scream!!!! It did the Red-tail call three times then I guess
was sufficiently satisfied with its efforts ... after making *sure* that
every other bird nearby had been scared away by this display, it
descended to the ground to quietly pick up some cracked corn :o)
bpb, Frankfort
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