So What Should We Call This – a Grue Jay?

University of Texas Austin ^ | September 28, 2025 | Marc Airhart

[rlmorel]

Yes! And nobody messes with hummingbirds, either...when they get aggressive, other birds clear out!

My dad told me when he was the XO of a destroyer back in the early Sixties going through the Suez Canal, they had a hawk perched on the top of the mast, plucking some other bird, and all the crew was looking up at it as the downy feathers came floating down!

[mairdie]

Your observations are amazing. Patience must be dominant in your personality. Truly impressive.

I spent a year after retirement standing at windows videoing birds and squirrels. Nothing like your observations. Just pure pleasure. My patience comes from my notebook logging where I kept track of every bird leaving and arriving for the videomaking.

Backyard Birds - Mozart Piano Sonato in D - 1993
https://youtu.be/zPeUh_Z1dEQ

Night Visitors - Joseph Blanchard - Whimsical Foray
https://youtu.be/4Fz_w97bt4s

Baby Birds - Etude - Chopin - 1993
https://youtu.be/5pVqvCsrZaY

Winter Birds - Chopin’s Etude - 1993
https://youtu.be/XBkqOxMNP4E

Birds and Squirrels - 1993
https://youtu.be/QMSZo73V7D8

Dragonflies and Wildlife Refuge - Mozart - 1993
https://youtu.be/vtjtecjzXhY

[crusty old prospector]

Blue Jays sound as if they are sinful.

[mairdie]

From grandfather’s articles.

The Water Ousel, Nature’s Premier Singer of Melodies
Nevada State Journal, October 28, 1923

https://www.iment.com/maida/family/father/jackbell/Jack-Bell-Prospector-and-Naturalist-39.htm#waterousel

******

Get Acquainted with Nevada’s Birds Says Jack Bell
Nevada State Journal, October 24, 1926

https://www.iment.com/maida/family/father/jackbell/Jack-Bell-Prospector-and-Naturalist-39.htm#acquainted

******

The Glorious Glow of the Sangre de Cristo II
Nevada State Journal, December 24, 1922

https://www.iment.com/maida/family/father/jackbell/Jack-Bell-Prospector-and-Naturalist-39.htm#cristo2

[rlmorel]

I agree...and I have come to love observing crows as well...though I am glad I do not live close to a roost of them. A “murder” of crows...love that description of their group!

Crows seem much more like “older people” as Blue Jays are to “teenagers” in my mind.

[Omnivore-Dan]

I could go on all day on the events I have seen with birds. Recently a bald eagle in a field eating a rabbit. Another time a flock of turkeys chasing a dog. My wife was working in her flower bed one day and she had a blouse with a pattern of red roses. A humming bird flew right up to her, maybe only 6 inches away, and flew all around her until it decided the roses weren’t real. One day last year I was looking at all of the dandelions in my lawn. They started to move! Then one of the flew! A flock of goldfinches had come to eat the seeds, but at first sight it just looked like a lot of dandelions. Many more stories including the rescue of a kestrel with a broken wing we took to a rehab facility. When the wing was healed, they called us and said your bird is getting fat, and ready to be released. You can come and watch if you like. I said that would be great but could I return it to where I found it? They hemmed and hawed a bit but said yes, it would be the best for the little hawk. What a gorgeous bird it was. When we released it in the field across from where we live, it circled around us, dipped it’s wing as if to say thanks, and flew up to the tallest tree in the woods to survey it’s old hunting grounds. What a beautiful sight and it really made me feel human.

[FamiliarFace]

I am a bird watcher, sort of, that is, when I have a chance to sit down and watch them. Or maybe I am an animal watcher, because I will try to observe anything in my backyard.

That Tufted Titmouse eating from your hand is cute. I’ve never tried to get that close.

[teeman8r]

“Yes, they are. Don’t know about Green Jays, though..............”

the greens are jealous of the blues and that makes them even bigger dicks.

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting

[Danie_2023]

“”Our Bluejays are mean, vindictive and intelligent.””

That’s not meanness. It’s bravery and nads. I’ve seen a bluejay dive-bomb my dad for being too near one of their nests. It was hilarious, but also gave me respect for that bird. He was doing what most humans would do if their kids were being threatened.

[xp38]

Some of the best games I remember from the 1980s were the Jays Tigers matchups and the budding rivalry that was developing at that time. Only a 4 hour drive between them so one could do a day game day trip. Once they got placed into different divisions the rivalry all ebbed away. They still played each other but due to the unbalanced scheduling it was rare in comparison to the within division games.

[rlmorel]

You bet! Love seeing a bird thread...:)

[rlmorel]

Yeah! I’m with you-I like watching it all.

And I have to tell you-having a wild animal land on your hand and eat from it-that is as charmed as I could get!

And they are sharp, cute little birds. I really like those Tufted Titmouse types! And I like Chickadees, too.

Chickadees are interesting. They did an experiment, and found that Chickadees (who hide, or cache their food so they can get through winter, can remember the location of 6,000 pieces of food they have hidden!!!

[FamiliarFace]

Interesting! I had no idea that Chickadees did that! (They sound like squirrels in that regard.)

The past month or so, I have been involved in a new “wildlife” project. I’ve been working with Monarch butterflies. I’ve had one variety of Milkweed plants (swamp) in one landscape bed for a few years, with once in a while seeing a few caterpillars every year.

Then a year ago, a friend of mine had a different variety, common milkweed, and was wanting to thin out her patch. So we dug some up, and I transplanted several of them near my swamp variety. This year, those transplants went crazy, and when the Monarch butterflies came in August, they went to town on eggs. Every day I had dozens and dozens of new caterpillars show themselves, for weeks on end.

Well, we had a cold spell several weeks ago. So I ordered a butterfly habitat, and coaxed 35 caterpillars that were hanging all over my milkweed plants into the habitat, and I brought inside for several days and nights. It warmed back up, and only 2 of those 35 didn’t complete into a chrysalis.

So for roughly 2 + weeks. I have been periodically watching butterflies emerge, and letting them fly free into the big wide world. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks. I’ve learned a lot, having never done anything like this before.

So far, 30 butterflies have emerged and flown off. 15 were males, and 15 were females. There’s one chrysalis left that looks like it will be fine. 2 others look diseased, so that’s a shame, but that’s nature.

We are fortunate to live on an almost 2 acre lot. The front is neighborhood. The back is private, very wooded, with a creek in the back. Beyond that is farmland with corn and soybeans. I have our property certified as a wildlife habitat, because that’s really what we have here. We are considered “semi-rural”. Hubby says it’s the best of both worlds. We have neighbors if we need them, and a good bit of privacy, too. We share our lot with the wild animals, and they let us watch them.