why do blue jays squawk

(on the ground level, with a bush right outside the window where they hang out.) Blue jays bob to perfection. It’s right in the middle of hawk migration, too, so they’re all squawking their heads off about new food discoveries, predators, greeting relatives and old neighbors, and they’re no longer concerned about predators finding their nests. Or could they be tricking other songbirds by scaring them into abandoning bird feeders to drive off competition for food?Not all jay sounds are raucous or imitative of hawks.Resonate calls, like dulcet bell tones, among a blue jay family announce the presence of people. — L. Mann, Dexter, Michigan. A more mundane explanation is that jays just mimic sounds they hear, and hawk calls are similar enough to jays’ other standard sounds that they are an easy addition to their vocal array.Sign up for our free e-newsletter to receive news, photos of birds, attracting and ID tips, descriptions of birding hotspots, and more delivered to your inbox every other week. Blue Jays make a large variety of calls. A bunch of blue jays let me know there was a snake in my oak tree yesterday! Now families have joined flocks and are migrating to new areas … so they’re all squawking their heads off about new food discoveries, predators, greeting relatives and old neighbors. Mercury is low in the west just after dark. While on woodland walks, however, I have heard solitary jays impersonating hawks when apparently I was the only audience.Since jays often produce the calls when they’re excited, I may have unknowingly been near a nest (and perhaps appeared to the jay to be susceptible of being scared by a hawk). The hefty birds, with blue feathers of varying hues and large blue crests, utter a multitude of complex vocalizations that include bell tones, whistles, chortles and shrill jeers.Blue Jays also can utter two distinct vocalizations simultaneously, which would be like us chanting go-go-go for J.J. Watt while singing the national anthem at the same time.The rich, albeit loud, vocal repertoire of jays makes us wonder what they're squawking about. Though blue jays are beautiful birds and can be fun to watch, but they aren't always the best birds to have around the house and yard. To me, squawking blue jays are as much a part of fall as changing leaf colors and Friday night football.No one knows for sure why blue jays are noisier in autumn, but the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a theory: “Early in the summer they’re nesting, and being as secretive as possible. As they pass through places in which resident blue jays live, there is a vocal exchange between them. Although Blue Jays eat about 3 times as much plant matter as it does meat, a large part of their diet is made up of other animals such as mice, fish, bats and other small birds. Blue jays squawk a lot but there's more to their squawking than meets the ear.Blue jays have a variety of vocalizations that include bell tones, whistles, chortles and shrill jeers.Blue jays have a variety of vocalizations that include bell tones, whistles, chortles, and shrill jeers. Nearly every time I take a walk in my neighborhood or in the woods in early fall, I hear what for me has become an iconic sound of the season — squawking blue jays.I even hear one now from somewhere outside as I write this column in my Decatur home. Despite such habits, on balance Blue Jays are a welcome part of most avian neighborhoods because they are observant and squawky and alert all nearby songbirds about hawks, cats, and other dangers. However, the persistent squawking of this bird heard during the summer in the High Peaks, along the Moose River Plain, or in the West Canada Lake wilderness will shortly be replaced with silence. Blue Jays have an impressive vocal repertoire that includes not only many sounds beyond their raucous jay! If they spot a cat or an owl or a hawk, they’ll sound off with jeer calls, and then the whole group may erupt in blaring jeers.Blue jays also have the uncanny ability to imitate the calls of red-tailed, broad-winged and red-shouldered hawks.IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The moon is in its first quarter tonight. While Blue Jay is not a particularly large bird, when … He is also a member of the American Mensa Society. How do I get rid of Blue Jays? The Spread of Blue Jays. The second suggests that jays want to dupe other birds into thinking that a hawk is nearby, perhaps to gain access to a feeder. Gary is also a contributing author in the book, "Pride of Place: A Contemporary Anthology of Texas Nature Writing. All crows eat meat, some more than others. All crows eat meat, some more than others. © 2020 Madavor Media, LLC. Blue Jay's are extremely intelligent - and good actors - with dozens of calls that have not been analyzed or explained. Henry David Thoreau described it as a “steel cold scream.” In a flock of jays, one or two birds may serve as lookouts. He was vice president of the Board of Directors for the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory 2001-2008.

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