Wild Blue Jay eats out of my Hand | |
czygyny User ID: 186582 United States 02/14/2008 12:43 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | It is not that uncommon for folks to raise baby jays and crows, they often fall out or get kicked out of their nest. They are so intelligent and social that they remain friendly. Unfortunately, cats often get them, because they hang around the house and get complacent. I had a crow come out of nowhere, once, and perch on my gutter and stare at me. I figured he was someone's pet gone feral, so I brought out a handful of catfood and he perched on my arm and ate it all, then flew away, never to be seen again. I still marvel at that encounter. |
doomass User ID: 372076 United States 02/14/2008 12:43 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | That's cool dude. We've have a family of crows that's down to 3 from 5 we've fed for 3 yrs and daddy crow will come down to the deck when we're outside. He'll come to the table and grab food but haven't gotten him to trust us enough yet for hand feeding. Maybe in time...but many around here still hate crows and he is smart for his distrust. Maybe because they're intimidated by the crow's intelligence and their own lack of. Just sayin... |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 349259 United States 02/14/2008 12:48 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | There's this wild Blue Jay my mother trained to eat out of her hand. It will fly down and grab peanuts from my hand also. One time it came 48 times in a row within an hour's time, grabbing peanuts out of my hand, burying them, and returning for more. I've not heard of anyone else making a pet out of a wild Blue Jay and was wondering if anyone else here has done so. This Blue Jay has been around for about 8 years. It really loves my mother and will just stay on her hand for several minutes and will look into her face as though it is trying to communicate. We have it on video also. Quoting: johnnytrainor[link to i252.photobucket.com] [link to i252.photobucket.com] what side of the rockies are on OP? |
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Tangwystyl
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Stevie
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IDW User ID: 373629 United Kingdom 02/14/2008 01:17 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Four years back, I had a whole nest of four blue jays running around on the ground while I mowed the grass. They'd fallen from nest about twenty feet up in a tree. I herded them out of the way in a corner of the fence with the noise of the lawn mower. WHile I was taking a break, I heard the mother blue jay raising hell and saw a nieghbors fucking cat stalking the babies. By the time I ran over to where they were, the cat had one of the babies in it's mouth. I wacked the fucker hard over tha back with a stick and it let go of the baby bird, which appeared unharmed. I did the best I could to discourage the neighbors cats with a bb gun in the week it took the birds to learn to fly well. FOr the last three years these same jays have remained, and they have not forgotten what transpired. They often come up on deck and look in through the kitchen door,apprently urging me to come out for a visit. They exhibit no fear. and when I go outside and sit down they land on the chair and on the deck rails around me. It's not about food, either, I have never fed them other than the bird feeder which is for all the birds, and it's not near the deck. They just recognize me as a friend. It is really comforting to have them act in such a friendly manner. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 304696 United States 02/14/2008 01:23 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | There's this wild Blue Jay my mother trained to eat out of her hand. It will fly down and grab peanuts from my hand also. One time it came 48 times in a row within an hour's time, grabbing peanuts out of my hand, burying them, and returning for more. I've not heard of anyone else making a pet out of a wild Blue Jay and was wondering if anyone else here has done so. This Blue Jay has been around for about 8 years. It really loves my mother and will just stay on her hand for several minutes and will look into her face as though it is trying to communicate. We have it on video also. Quoting: johnnytrainor[link to i252.photobucket.com] [link to i252.photobucket.com] Wow. |
Veracity
User ID: 297086 United States 02/14/2008 01:25 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Beautiful. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace" - Jimi Hendrix "Starve the ego; Feed the soul." - DJ AM The sanctity of the State becomes identified with the sanctity of the ruling class, and the latter are permitted to remain in power under the impression that in obeying and serving them, we are obeying and serving society, the nation, the great collectivity of all of us" - Randolph Bourne |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 372397 United States 02/14/2008 02:01 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | When I was a kid, a house wren built her nest in my dad's workshop on top of a jigsaw. When dad needed to use the jigsaw, he would move the nest to the workbench use the saw and then put the nest back. Sometimes this was done with the wren actually sitting on the nest. This family of wrens nested around our house for generations. |
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czygyny User ID: 186582 United States 02/14/2008 02:17 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
johnnytrainor
(OP) User ID: 362137 United States 02/14/2008 02:52 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | They exhibit no fear. and when I go outside and sit down they land on the chair and on the deck rails around me. It's not about food, either, I have never fed them other than the bird feeder which is for all the birds, and it's not near the deck. They just recognize me as a friend. It is really comforting to have them act in such a friendly manner. Quoting: IDW 373629I know what you mean "it's not about food either" --- this Blue Jay will just come HANG OUT around us all day long, and literally follow us around the acerage. If we are sitting, it will just come and sit on a branch in a pine tree close by. My mother has often said, "That bird has brought me so much joy!" And I can relate when you say, "they have not forgotten," because we can be gone from the property for 6 months, then come back and there she is, and will fly down to our hands to grab a peanut. To reply to another comment, we are on the west coast, in Aguanga California to be exact, about 30 miles east of Temecula. |
raz
User ID: 297849 United States 02/14/2008 03:05 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Has anyone besides me ever had a bird land on their windowsill, only to start singing in rhythm and in tune with the music you were listening to? I had a bird do this. It sang like a guitar, in descending notes, in perfect rhythm and tone with the jam. It was unbelieveable... Oh yeh, and those don't look like the blue jay's that Im familiar with from New England... put rock in geyser. |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 349259 United States 02/15/2008 06:14 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | what side of the rockies are on OP? Quoting: czygyny 186582Must be on the west side, those images are of a Scrub Jay, quite familiar to California backyards everywhere. that's why i asked..... could be a female stellers jay as well... blue jays are only found east of the rockies. not too diminish the the coolness of the bird in hand...just providing some info. |
johnnytrainor
(OP) User ID: 362137 United States 02/16/2008 09:12 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | what side of the rockies are on OP? Quoting: Anonymous Coward 349259Must be on the west side, those images are of a Scrub Jay, quite familiar to California backyards everywhere. that's why i asked..... could be a female stellers jay as well... blue jays are only found east of the rockies. not too diminish the the coolness of the bird in hand...just providing some info. You are teaching me. Interesting that these so-called blue jays we have here aren't even blue jays, but Scrub Jays! Everyone I know here in California has always called them Blue Jays, but I researched it a bit and you are sure right. Bird maps of the blue jay territories only show east of the rockies. I wonder why real Blue Jays have never migrated west. |
czygyny User ID: 186582 United States 02/18/2008 04:02 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | You are teaching me. Interesting that these so-called blue jays we have here aren't even blue jays, but Scrub Jays! Everyone I know here in California has always called them Blue Jays, but I researched it a bit and you are sure right. Bird maps of the blue jay territories only show east of the rockies. Quoting: johnnytrainorI wonder why real Blue Jays have never migrated west. I believe the Rockies and the Mississippi are both barriers to many species of birds and even plants. As for what people commonly call jays, I find that it is a common practice. I cringe everytime I hear someone call those pretty yellow birds 'wild canaries', which are actually American goldfinches. Usually you don't know these things until you are bit by the 'birding' bug, and then you get obsessed about proper identification. Then, you'll be out there with the rest of us nuts, binoculars in hand, Peterson's Guide in the other, sturdy shoes and sunblock hat, with your trusty waterbottle at your side, ooing and aahhing at the next life-list check mark you make. |
k@liy
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mercury2
User ID: 283798 United States 02/18/2008 09:48 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Oh, I can't help it. Jim Baker's Blue Jay Yarn, by Mark Twain Animals talk to each other, of course. There can be no question about that; but I suppose there are very few people who can understand them. I never knew but one man who could. I knew he could, however, because he told me so himself. He was a middle-aged, simple-hearted miner who had lived in a lonely corner of California, among the woods and mountains, a good many years, and had studied the ways of his only neighbors, the beasts and the birds, until he believed he could accurately translate any remark which they made. This was Jim Baker. According to Jim Baker, some animals have only a limited education, and some use only simple words, and scarcely ever a comparison or a flowery figure; whereas, certain other animals have a large vocabulary, a fine command of language and a ready and fluent delivery; consequently these latter talk a great deal; they like it; they are so conscious of their talent, and they enjoy "showing off." Baker said, that after long and careful observation, he had come to the conclusion that the bluejays were the best talkers he had found among birds and beasts. Said he: "There's more TO a bluejay than any other creature. He has got more moods, and more different kinds of feelings than other creatures; and, mind you, whatever a bluejay feels, he can put into language. And no mere commonplace language, either, but rattling, out-and-out book-talk--and bristling with metaphor, too--just bristling! And as for command of language--why YOU never see a bluejay get stuck for a word. No man ever did. They just boil out of him! And another thing: I've noticed a good deal, and there's no bird, or cow, or anything that uses as good grammar as a bluejay. You may say a cat uses good grammar. Well, a cat does--but you let a cat get excited once; you let a cat get to pulling fur with another cat on a shed, nights, and you'll hear grammar that will give you the lockjaw. Ignorant people think it's the NOISE which fighting cats make that is so aggravating, but it ain't so; it's the sickening grammar they use. Now I've never heard a jay use bad grammar but very seldom; and when they do, they are as ashamed as a human; they shut right down and leave. "You may call a jay a bird. Well, so he is, in a measure-- but he's got feathers on him, and don't belong to no church, perhaps; but otherwise he is just as much human as you be. And I'll tell you for why. A jay's gifts, and instincts, and feelings, and interests, cover the whole ground. A jay hasn't got any more principle than a Congressman. A jay will lie, a jay will steal, a jay will deceive, a jay will betray; and four times out of five, a jay will go back on his solemnest promise. The sacredness of an obligation is such a thing which you can't cram into no bluejay's head. Now, on top of all this, there's another thing; a jay can out-swear any gentleman in the mines. You think a cat can swear. Well, a cat can; but you give a bluejay a subject that calls for his reserve-powers, and where is your cat? Don't talk to ME--I know too much about this thing; in the one little particular of scolding--just good, clean, out-and-out scolding-- a bluejay can lay over anything, human or divine. Yes, sir, a jay is everything that a man is. A jay can cry, a jay can laugh, a jay can feel shame, a jay can reason and plan and discuss, a jay likes gossip and scandal, a jay has got a sense of humor, a jay knows when he is an ass just as well as you do--maybe better. If a jay ain't human, he better take in his sign, that's all. Now I'm going to tell you a perfectly true fact about some bluejays. "When I first begun to understand jay language correctly, there was a little incident happened here. Seven years ago, the last man in this region but me moved away. There stands his house--been empty ever since; a log house, with a plank roof--just one big room, and no more; no ceiling--nothing between the rafters and the floor. Well, one Sunday morning I was sitting out here in front of my cabin, with my cat, taking the sun, and looking at the blue hills, and listening to the leaves rustling so lonely in the trees, and thinking of the home away yonder in the states, that I hadn't heard from in thirteen years, when a bluejay lit on that house, with an acorn in his mouth, and says, 'Hello, I reckon I've struck something.' When he spoke, the acorn dropped out of his mouth and rolled down the roof, of course, but he didn't care; his mind was all on the thing he had struck. It was a knot-hole in the roof. He cocked his head to one side, shut one eye and put the other one to the hole, like a possum looking down a jug; then he glanced up with his bright eyes, gave a wink or two with his wings--which signifies gratification, you understand--and says, 'It looks like a hole, it's located like a hole--blamed if I don't believe it IS a hole!' "Then he cocked his head down and took another look; he glances up perfectly joyful, this time; winks his wings and his tail both, and says, 'Oh, no, this ain't no fat thing, I reckon! If I ain't in luck! --Why it's a perfectly elegant hole!' So he flew down and got that acorn, and fetched it up and dropped it in, and was just tilting his head back, with the heavenliest smile on his face, when all of a sudden he was paralyzed into a listening attitude and that smile faded gradually out of his countenance like breath off'n a razor, and the queerest look of surprise took its place. Then he says, 'Why, I didn't hear it fall!' He cocked his eye at the hole again, and took a long look; raised up and shook his head; stepped around to the other side of the hole and took another look from that side; shook his head again. He studied a while, then he just went into the Details-- walked round and round the hole and spied into it from every point of the compass. No use. Now he took a thinking attitude on the comb of the roof and scratched the back of his head with his right foot a minute, and finally says, 'Well, it's too many for ME, that's certain; must be a mighty long hole; however, I ain't got no time to fool around here, I got to "tend to business"; I reckon it's all right--chance it, anyway.' "So he flew off and fetched another acorn and dropped it in, and tried to flirt his eye to the hole quick enough to see what become of it, but he was too late. He held his eye there as much as a minute; then he raised up and sighed, and says, 'Confound it, I don't seem to understand this thing, no way; however, I'll tackle her again.' He fetched another acorn, and done his level best to see what become of it, but he couldn't. He says, 'Well, I never struck no such a hole as this before; I'm of the opinion it's a totally new kind of a hole.' Then he begun to get mad. He held in for a spell, walking up and down the comb of the roof and shaking his head and muttering to himself; but his feelings got the upper hand of him, presently, and he broke loose and cussed himself black in the face. I never see a bird take on so about a little thing. When he got through he walks to the hole and looks in again for half a minute; then he says, 'Well, you're a long hole, and a deep hole, and a mighty singular hole altogether--but I've started in to fill you, and I'm damned if I DON'T fill you, if it takes a hundred years!' "And with that, away he went. You never see a bird work so since you was born. He laid into his work like a nigger, and the way he hove acorns into that hole for about two hours and a half was one of the most exciting and astonishing spectacles I ever struck. He never stopped to take a look anymore--he just hove 'em in and went for more. Well, at last he could hardly flop his wings, he was so tuckered out. He comes a-dropping down, once more, sweating like an ice-pitcher, dropped his acorn in and says, 'NOW I guess I've got the bulge on you by this time!' So he bent down for a look. If you'll believe me, when his head come up again he was just pale with rage. He says, 'I've shoveled acorns enough in there to keep the family thirty years, and if I can see a sign of one of 'em I wish I may land in a museum with a belly full of sawdust in two minutes!' "He just had strength enough to crawl up on to the comb and lean his back agin the chimbly, and then he collected his impressions and begun to free his mind. I see in a second that what I had mistook for profanity in the mines was only just the rudiments, as you may say. "Another jay was going by, and heard him doing his devotions, and stops to inquire what was up. The sufferer told him the whole circumstance, and says, 'Now yonder's the hole, and if you don't believe me, go and look for yourself.' So this fellow went and looked, and comes back and says, "How many did you say you put in there?' 'Not any less than two tons,' says the sufferer. The other jay went and looked again. He couldn't seem to make it out, so he raised a yell, and three more jays come. They all examined the hole, they all made the sufferer tell it over again, then they all discussed it, and got off as many leather-headed opinions about it as an average crowd of humans could have done. "They called in more jays; then more and more, till pretty soon this whole region 'peared to have a blue flush about it. There must have been five thousand of them; and such another jawing and disputing and ripping and cussing, you never heard. Every jay in the whole lot put his eye to the hole and delivered a more chuckle-headed opinion about the mystery than the jay that went there before him. They examined the house all over, too. The door was standing half open, and at last one old jay happened to go and light on it and look in. Of course, that knocked the mystery galley-west in a second. There lay the acorns, scattered all over the floor.. He flopped his wings and raised a whoop. 'Come here!' he says, 'Come here, everybody; hang'd if this fool hasn't been trying to fill up a house with acorns!' They all came a-swooping down like a blue cloud, and as each fellow lit on the door and took a glance, the whole absurdity of the contract that that first jay had tackled hit him home and he fell over backward suffocating with laughter, and the next jay took his place and done the same. "Well, sir, they roosted around here on the housetop and the trees for an hour, and guffawed over that thing like human beings. It ain't any use to tell me a bluejay hasn't got a sense of humor, because I know better. And memory, too. They brought jays here from all over the United States to look down that hole, every summer for three years. Other birds, too. And they could all see the point except an owl that come from Nova Scotia to visit the Yo Semite, and he took this thing in on his way back. He said he couldn't see anything funny in it. But then he was a good deal disappointed about Yo Semite, too." |