Education | Birds
My favourite — Blue Jays!
An introduction to a dazzling creature
Birds are the most amazing creatures in the world.
I always love to explore different species of birds all around and this journey has brought me to a beautiful jaybird - the Blue Jay.
Its dazzling blue colour with white and black plumage makes it one of the most beautiful birds in the world.
But the most interesting fact about this bird is that it’s actually not blue!
Now, you might be thinking…
Why do they look blue?
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, there is a pigment called - melanin present in their feathers, which is brown.
But they look blue because of a light scattering phenomenon in which the refraction of light takes place through the modified cells present on their feathers.
By taking one of their feathers in hand and crushing them, one can observe the real brown colour of the birds.
Found across the forests of Eastern and Central North America are considered intelligent bird species as they can imitate the sound of other birds like hawks.
Why are they considered intelligent?
Hawks and owls are the most common predators of blue jays. So, whenever hawks are near in search of their preys, the jaybird imitates their sound to warn the other blue jays to make them fly away.
Sometimes it’s also seen that they mimic the sound to make the other birds fool so that they can feed alone on their meal!
What do they feed on?
Blue jays mainly feed on nuts like acorns, seeds, arthropods, soft fruits and small insects from the air.
They used to store nuts for winters, but most of the time these nuts are never recovered from their hidden places.
As never found again, these nuts grew up into the oak trees and result in new forests.
Some of them also feed on eggs and nestlings of other birds but it’s found rare.
Fun facts
- Blue jays show sexual monomorphism which means the males and females are similar in size and plumage.
- Their nests are cup-shaped which are built by the participation of both the sexes.
- One clutch contains 5 to 7 eggs which are blue or light brown with brownish spots.
- They usually fly around at 20–25 mph, which is very less as compared to other bird species.
- Their slow speed makes it easy for the predators to catch them while flying in open areas.
- The average life expectancy of the Blue Jays is 5–7 years.
- However, the oldest known female Blue jay was about 26 years and 11 months old!
There are so many wonderful varieties of species in this world, that it’s impossible to tell the name of the most beautiful bird.
However, the stunning blue, black and white colour combination of Blue Jays makes them one of my favourite bird specie!
