Hi all-



Our Jays are spectacular. We have quite a few who live here - with those
spikey crests they always remind me of Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones. They
were a huge pest for us when we began bird feeding - they would sort through
a whole feeder full of mix seed in a day and pick out all of the sunflower
seeds, throwing everything else on the ground to the delight of the juncos.
Once we began laying out unshelled peanuts they became spectacular, but it
attracted too many.I mean like we would have 10-15 screeching around the
woods all day long -- so we stopped putting out peanuts so much. I have
seen the elusive three peanut in the gullet maneuver. :-) They are very
greedy! They will take them and hide them on the ground under leaves, and
smarter jays will come along right after one has hidden one and uncover it
and steal it. They also hide them up in trees, but I think the squirrels
find them. They will come and eat off our suet feeders though they defer to
the flickers (definitely) and possibly even the hairy's and the downy's.



Since we stopped consciously feeding them we have a lot fewer (and a lot
more other birds) but I have one particularly brave jay who comes up every
morning to the deck outside my office where I feed my cats and he/she eats
and drinks right out of the cats bowls and hangs out on the railing all
morning. He spreads his wings and suns himself in the morning sun and has
given me quite an education on the finer points of jay vocalizations - his
soft song is magnificent.



-Jamie Samans

Fall City, WA

_____

From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Neens
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 11:10 PM
To: Pjgumbo at aol.com; tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Steller's Jays and Peanuts



Paul,



Those are great questions, and I can't wait to hear the responses!



My one Jay goes through a feeder of wild bird mix using his beak in a
sweeping motion (scattering seed EVERYWHERE!!!!!) emptying the tray so the
bigger nuts in the feeder will work their way down into the tray. Reminds
me of a child trying to get the prize from a cereal box. Once my Jay gets a
big nut - PEANUTS or any of the large nuts in the mix- he gulps them down.
He will eat SEVERAL peanuts in one sitting! OINK! Never seen him
regurgitate, nor have I seen any burying activity (not by birds, anyway).
Of course, my observations are limited to one Jay. Once in a blue moon,
I'll have a visitor, and two jays arguing over the feeder...



Nina

(whose woodpeckers are busy bees on the suet pole!)

Bremerton, WA

nina at wavecable.com



----- Original Message -----

From: Pjgumbo at aol.com

To: tweeters at u.washington.edu

Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 20:39

Subject: [Tweeters] Steller's Jays and Peanuts



We continue to enjoy St. Jays plundering peanuts from our feeder almost as
fast as I can stock them. Thanks to all for Costco suggestion - indeed most
economical source I have come across.



But I'm interested in where these nuts are going. We laugh at gluttons that
swallow one nut down and then go after another. So far, no confirmed
three-nut trips, although we've had multiple viewings of gagging attempts to
get that second nut swallowed.



I saw a Jay surreptitiously bury a nut in the lawn yesterday, including what
appeared to be the plucking of nearby moss to hide the prize. I also found
a sprouted peanut when harvesting potatoes this weekend, 4 inches deep in
the soil.



What is known about the habits here? Are Jays routinely able to regurgitate
a large peanut (or ingest!)? What range of hidey-holes do they exploit?
Any idea what percentage of hidden nuts get recovered?



paul johanson

North Beach (N. Ballard)






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