Talk:Blue Jay

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Any thoughts on making a stellars Jay redirect to this page??

See the Steller's Jay page. Michael,inSonoran Desert, YumaAZ--Mmcannis 02:07, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

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[edit] structural color and leucistic?

The photo of the "leucistic" blue jay...? I don't understand how a bird that has no pigment can properly be called leucistic, which seems to be a pigment abnormality. 66.68.84.208 23:45, 10 April 2007 (UTC)dc-a

True. One has to use this expedient way of putting it though, as there is no special term for loss-of-structural-coloration. (leucistic animals do have some pigment - the bird in question has black for example).
I'm thinking about a better way to put it. Dysmorodrepanis (talk) 11:45, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] huh

How are bluejays only on the east coast, we have blue jays in British Columbia? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by TotallyTempo (talk • contribs) 04:18, 24 January 2007 (UTC).

Yeah, we have them in San Diego too. What's up with the map?

Let me guess - they are absent in summer? The species is spreading NE, and "spilling" over the Rockies as of recently, roughly in the Seattle/Vancouver area and surroundings. 2 decades ago, one would probably have seen a Blue on the West Coast once in a decade if at all. Expect them to become a common resident west of the Rockies in our lifetimes. Dysmorodrepanis (talk) 11:49, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] hey

there is an Portuguese article of it,"Gralha Azul",someone can put it there?(I don't know how,tanks in advance.

See pt:Gaio-azul - as Portuguese is not a widespread language in the bird's range, it is best put on the Portuguese Wikipedia. Dysmorodrepanis (talk) 12:07, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] EASTERN BLUE JAY

There are three closely related blue jays native to North America. The pictured one is an Eastern Blue Jay. As the article states, it lives east of the Rocky Mountains, i.e.the eastern two-thirds of the continent, except Mexico and far northern Canada. According to TotallyTempo's comment above, they now live in British Columbia (south-west Canada), where I suspect they were either introduced or strayed and established themselves. The other two blue jays live west of the Rockies: the California Blue Jay and Steller's Jay. They are the same size as the Eastern Blue Jay, but differ in color, which shades from medium blue to very dark blue and nearly black. If my memory is correct, their heads are the darkest part of their bodies. Steller's Jay sports a blue to blue-black crest on the top of its head. The California Blue Jay has no crest. Both of these western blue jays are quieter and less agressive than their eastern cousin but live just as comfortably near humans.

Not quite. This is the reason we have capitalization in bird names. The bird dealt with here is THE Blue Jay. There are literally dozens of "blue" jays all across the Americas, and arguably the scrub-jays are also a kind of "blue jay". —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dysmorodrepanis (talk • contribs) 11:43, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Mexico's native jay is the Green Jay, which ranges from the southern-most tip of Texas south to Bolivia. I've never seen one except in a photo, which pictures a large and stunningly beautiful bird. Mary Eastman Wilbur

[edit] hawk imitation

I would like to add a sentence or two about the blue jay's habit of doing a rather good imitation of a hawk call. I am looking up some references on it right now - both in print and on the 'net. This is something that I have witnessed dozens of times myself - although the first time I thought I was going crazy. If you are unfamiliar with this phenomenon - check out this google search. Durruti36 02:34, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Great idea! It could go in a " Vocalization " subsection under "Behavior". --Jude 19:17, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Intelligence/behavior

IIRC BJs can be divided into "plunderers" and "non-plunderers" - the former steal from other BJ caches, the latter do not. When "plunderers" cache food, they go at great lengths to make sure that no other BJs observe them; sometimes they move around for prolonged time with food in beak, without eating it, if they cannot avoid conspecifics. "Non-plunderers" seem blissfully unawares of who obsrves them caching. This indicates that not only do they have individual personalities, but are actively aware of this fact, have a concept of "self" vs "others", and can reflect and abstract from their activities to those of others; they are thus capable of basic logical thought. Not bad for a teaspoonful of brains. Might be different NAmerican jay species though. I think the study was published in Science, Nature or PNAS in 2007, possibly in 2006. Dysmorodrepanis (talk) 11:52, 15 February 2008 (UTC)