[Birdtalk] Western Scrub Jay Story

[Mark Stackhouse]

Right now the scrub jays are celebrating success in having trained you  
so well . . .

On Aug 20, 2008, at 9:00 AM, Jeff Bilsky wrote:

> 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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