Blue jay knocking on our back door!

[Dr. John]

We have been feeding birds in our backyard for some time and the blue jays have become fairly accustomed to getting peanuts from us. They will usually perch on a nearby branch, often making lots of noise, and wait until we put one out on the top of our barbecue. They will tolerate us being within a couple of feet as they come grab the peanuts.

We have also been feeding squirrels peanuts from our back door. They have learned to look in through the glass door and will scratch at the glass until we come give them a peanut. Recently my wife heard some scratching at the glass and assumed it was just another squirrel. Instead she saw a blue jay on the ground at the door. As she watched in amazement, it jumped up and scratched at the glass, sounding just like the squirrels. When she went to open the door, it flew up to a nearby branch and then took the peanut as usual.

Did this jay learn something from watching the squirrels? We're waiting to see if we get a repeat performance of this unusual behaviour.

-John

[Raven11:11]

We too have been leaving peanuts in their shell on a benchc just 3 -4 feet from our back door however it is not the Jay knocking, the smaller birds do !!  The J's and Cardinals are VERY nervous and wary so they don't stay long at all.

[Wingnut]

Realizing now that most of the birds that visit our backyard feeders do not like sunflower seeds I scooped up a bunch they threw on the ground and tossed them over the fence. Since then there is a blue jay that settles on the fence, jumps down to the other side, picks up one of the sunflower seeds, brings it back to the fence top, holds it between his feet against the board and hammers away at it until he gets the fruit. The jay does this about 5-10 times and then flies off.

I like how he uses the fence board as a tool. Blue jays by the sounds of things are displaying a little more intelligence than their competitors. Not sure if that's a true statement but from observation, the jays seem quite smart.