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Blue Jays in Snow Feeding Frenzy | January 2010 |
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When the cold weather comes along, special additions pop up over our feeding area. Suet blocks are hung on tree limbs, and morning bread and peanuts are distributed.
The blue jays come in a flock of fifteen to twenty for the morning special. They take turns landing and tanking up, so figure for the six on the snow, there are about twice as many in the tree above.
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Everyone wants peanuts! The blue jays simply happen to be the fastest, but not far behind them are the squirrels.
Nevertheless, blue jays manage to get an eagle's share, because each jay is capable of stacking an incredible number of peanuts in its bill.
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If you haven't guessed, I'm very fond of blue jays. And it isn't only me. The smaller birds depend on blue jays not only for the jays' alarm calls but also for the jays' teamwork in driving away hawks.
Also, blue jays are very photogenic, as in the portrait below.
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A caption might be, When will those peanuts be served?
Photo note: I used a Pentax K20D, with the SMC-DA 55-300mm lens, for the first photo, on 10 January 2010, and the Pentax *ist D, for the second two (and I forget which lens I used for those), taken in 2008 and 2007. |