- Mary K. Hanson
- Posted On
Tuleyome Tales: The rambunctious, noisy, assertive scrub jay
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – It’s hard to ignore them when they’re shouting their loud, rasping “shreeep!” calls at one another.
The California Scrub Jays are also colorful and pretty much ubiquitous in our region. You can find them almost anywhere from deep oak woodlands to urban settings.
Although they are jays and they are blue, they’re not “Blue Jays”. The Blue Jay is actually an entirely different species not found at all in California.
That loud distinctive “shreep!” call is usually one used to indicate aggression, and often accompanies the bird flying from one part of its territory to another, ducking for cover from predators, or displaying to a rival.
But “shreeping” isn’t the extent of their language. The jays are believed to enunciate a least 20 different kinds of calls, including a deep throated “rattling” call and a soft “coo” (usually used between courting or mating pairs), bill-clapping “pops”, and loud “shrieking.”
Like crows, they may also have distinctive dialects, so the birds know who is from their area and who is from somewhere else.
According to a study done by Teresa Iglesias at UC Davis, the cacophonous shrieking behavior – usually started by one bird and then picked up by others in the vicinity – is used in part to alert other jays in the area to close-by predators (like owls) and also use to mourn their dead.
According to Iglesias’ study, “On encountering a dead jay, prostrate on the ground, jays flew into a tree and began a series of loud, screeching calls that attracted other jays. The summoned birds perched on trees and fences around the body and joined in the calling …”
This is somewhat similar to the calling behavior ravens use to summon their troops and communicate information to one another.
In such aggregates, territorial boundaries are often briefly ignored so all of the birds can come together and communicate in relative safety in one place.
With a brain-to-body ratio likened to that of whales, dolphins and chimpanzees, scrub jays, like other corvids (including crows and ravens) are considered to be exceedingly intelligent animals.
Studies indicate that they recognize other individuals in their groups, they can tell a decoy jay from a live bird, they plan for the future by caching seeds and other foodstuffs, and they can apparently remember the specific site of hundreds of caches AND what’s in them.
Some studies also seem to indicate that the jays are aware of the rate at which their cached food decays, and eat from the more perishable ones first. It’s this seed caching behavior, in part, which makes the jays one of the keystone species in their environment: by planting and moving seeds around, they reforest the areas within their territories.
Stealing is also part of the scrub jays’ repertoire of skills. They regularly observe other birds -- and squirrels -- note where those animals hide their caches, and then willfully pilfer from them. In some instances, the jays will even chase other jays and steal the food directly from them in flight – with a lot of raucous calling punctuating the thefts.
During the spring and summer the scrub jay’s diet is comprised mainly of insects, berries, vegetables and small frogs and lizards, but they’ll also eat eggs and the hatchlings of other birds – and, of course, human garbage is also sometimes on the menu. In the winter, their favorites are cached seeds and acorns.
It’s not unusual to see breeding pairs feeding food to one another as part of their courtship display and to maintain their pair bond. Although they are monogamous when breeding, and sometimes choose the same partners year after year, they don’t necessarily mate for life.
Here in our area, we can see the scrub jays almost daily as they are regular residents that do not migrate and can live up to fifteen years in the wild. So get out there and try some observations of your own.
The jays’ propensity for rambunctious noise, their blatant assertiveness, and their inquisitive nature makes them really fun to watch.
Mary K. Hanson is a Certified California Naturalist, author and nature photographer. She will be co-teaching a naturalist course for the public through Tuleyome in early 2018. Tuleyome is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation organization based in Woodland, Calif. For more information visit www.tuleyome.org.
