Subject: Speaking of Steller's Jays
Date: Jun 6 20:02:35 2004
From: C. Anderson - christyrae at hotmail.com


A couple of odd things about jays that have been coming to the backyard.

1. One has a deformed bill. We noticed this bird last year, when we thought
he was probably a youngster. The bill was quite long and not quite straight.
He was gone all winter. This spring, he came back, but the bill is more
deformed now. The upper mandible is a lot longer than the lower. He can't
pick up items with the bill tip but must work it back a ways. I watched him
yesterday with a sunflower seed and he had considerable trouble trying to
crack it, and finally just swallowed it, shell and all. Maybe into his
throat pouch, I don't know. He does take unshelled peanuts, but I haven't
seen him eat one, he just flies off with them. He also has one eye that is
odd. It has bare, black skin around it instead of feathers, and the feathers
above the eye are brown, not black like the rest of his head and neck. It
gives him an odd, staring quality. We never expected to see him back, but
somehow, he is surviving.

2. Two of the jays we are seeing, including "Big Beak" above, have some
kind of a problem with the skin on their legs. One looks as though he has
skinned his "knees" at the top of the tarsus, where it is pink rather than
black. Big Beak's entire tarsus is pink, and he also has some kind of growth
(pink) on both legs above his feet. It looks like he is wearing some kind of
boot. Occasionally, both birds will pick at the areas, but it doesn't seem
to bother them much. Any ideas what this is?

Thanks!!

Christy Anderson
christyrae at hotmail.com
Bellevue, WA