[Birdtalk] Western Scrub Jay Story

[Jeff Bilsky]

I took down all my feeders a few months ago because of some overly
productive rats that were sending missions out from behind the garage to
grab peanuts and sunflower seeds. I captured several of their foot soldiers,
placing them in my relocation program however you can't keep up with
breeding, determined rats. So down the feeders came and the birds, along
with the rats moved on. There were several western scrub jays including one
large, bold one who would fly into the yard and collect peanuts. I would
often go into the yard and would place a peanut on the brick fireplace in
the middle of the yard and down he'd fly, grab it up, hide it somewhere and
we'd repeat the cycle. Well a couple of days ago I was working in my home
office and I looked out the window to see a scrub jay sitting on the
fireplace staring at me. I got the message and decided it was time to get
the feeders back up. The next morning I had 3 scrub jays collecting peanuts
from my feeder. And this morning, as I was leaving for work, I ventured into
the backyard, placed a lone peanut on the fireplace and out of the tree my
friend flew down and grabbed it. I have heard before of the scrub jays
ability to remember, but experiencing this moment, first hand, was truly
amazing and reminded me of why I enjoy wildlife watching in the first place.
There is a kinship there - at the deepest level.

-- 
Jeff Bilsky
Salt Lake City
jbilsky at gmail.com
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