Outdoor Ontario
Birding Reports => Backyard Birding => Topic started by: Shortsighted on September 27, 2022, 07:56:38 PM
-
It is getting late enough in the year for jays to begin acting greedy. They arrive at meal times and sit on the wooden arbour patiently waiting for me to give them peanuts. When I throw out a few nuts the vanguard jay calls out to his mates and within a few seconds they descend onto the morsels. They exercise a pecking order that avoids scrapping over the choicest nuts. A jay will pick-up a peanut (if in the shell) and weigh it, often dropping it again to try another nut that might prove heavier than the first one. A small nut will disappear down a jay's throat to make room for a bigger one. Nuts offered sans shell are accommodated to the extent and capacity of their anatomy.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontarioorg/i-MGH3g55/0/e4417c40/L/Jay%20full%20of%20peanuts%2Ccrop-L.jpg) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontarioorg/i-MGH3g55/A)
-
Love the picture and tale.
-
I am seeing the same happening in my backyard. It is an interesting observation about them picking the heavier peanut shell. Lovely photo by the way.