The bluejays are year round visitors to our garden feeders. They mainly feeds on nuts and seeds, and it prefers peanuts in our garden. We have a couple of feeders set up just for the jays. One is the mailbox feeder which you can see here. These birds certainly let you know when they are arriving in the garden. I’m not sure if the loud squawks are meant to scare of the smaller birds from the feeders or just to announce that they are there.
Blue jays belong to the Corvidae family native to North America. The corvidae family also includes crows, magpies, rooks, jackdaws, and nutcrackers and others (up to 100 varieties). This family of birds have been found in fossils about 25 million years old.
Blue jays can be 30 cm. long and its brilliant blue colour is sometimes a trick of the light. Males and females are very similar in appearance. A surprised blue jay will point its crest forwards, while a frightened blue jay has its crest bristled out.
They aren’t just partial to peanuts but also love black oil sunflower seed.
This flat feeder can be viewed easily from the kitchen door and is a great place to capture photos of this cute lens friend.
The shades of blue and the markings on the tail feathers is wonderful. Their bellies are grayish to white. But did you know the feathers aren’t really blue? It is the result of the inner structure of the feathers which distorts the reflection of the light on the feathers and makes it appear blue. Well, they look blue to me, and the feathers I’ve found always look blue.
Did you see the peanut mail?
