Thanks for the info, Larry. I’ve got to get Sibley’s newest ed. I grew up with blue jays, so have become partial to Stellar’s. But, it has been interesting to see one on a regular basis again. We’ve never had one winter-over, so will see. This one is definitely partial to the black-oil sunflower seeds and is also very adept at shelling & eating them on the spot, too. He pounds them open with about 3 good strikes of his bill & eats the kernels on the spot. After about 10 or so, then starts the crop & bill filling routine with unshelled seeds. He’s making quite a store of seeds, somewhere in our vicinity.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Brian’s BLJA observations are fascinating… inspired me to do a bit of research.

The BNA species account (Smith, K. G., K. A. Tarvin, and G. E. Woolfenden (2013). Blue Jay ( Cyanocitta cristata ), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA) revealed nada about eating and/or caching sunseed, as I call it. But maybe I skimmed through it too fast? Focus appears to be on eastern food sources, nuts, seeds, insects, and being omnivorous, they eat just about anything you can imagine, and they cache “things” – nuts and seeds – from < 150 m away to as far away as several km. The current eBird bar chart for Idaho suggests BLJA is a “wintering species” and the bar chart for SE Idaho (10 counties including Brian’s) is even more emphatic about their status as “wintering.” So I’m thinking Brian’s bird will be A-OK if it hangs around his hood. =) But, totally guessing now, I wonder how far north Brian’s BLJA hails from? Sibley (2 nd edition, 2 nd printing, July 2014, page 375), illustrates a year-round range well north of Idaho. And just for fun, Sibley illustrates on the same page a really cool looking (just in time for Halloween) hybrid BLJA x STJA (Blue Jay cross Steller’s Jay). Just for fun, eh? Larry From: "lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com [ible]"
To: “IBLE”
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2018 6:27:52 PM
Subject: [IBLE] Blue Jay Cache

I had some time this last weekend to observe the blue jay coming in to my black-oil sunflower seed feeder. And, discovered that he’s caching seeds. In one visit to the feeder he can fill his crop (noticably so) with up to 36 seeds! Then maneuver another 5-6 in a row between his upper & lower bills. So, up to 42 black-oil sunflower seeds in a single visit. Much more efficient than the 1-visit/1-seed of the little black-capped chickadees.

Then the jay will disappear & repeat the process about 45 min to an hr later. He must be thinking of staying the winter?! Not sure the blue jay knows exactly what he’s getting himself into. Guess I’ll find out.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot