A resident Scrub Jay stops by several times a day at the
glass door off the patio waiting for peanut treats. It just grabs a peanut from my fingertips with a quick swoop
and returns several times for more.
Often it buries the peanut nearby for a later snack. They have a complex memory to recover
hidden caches.
The
California Scrub Jay is a sub species of the Western Jay and is common in
coastal urban areas. It is
patterned with blue, white and gray. It is not migratory. The average life
span in the wild is about 7 years.
They eat grains, berries, nuts, fruits , vegetables and even small
lizards.
They
mate for life. Nests are built in
low trees or bushes with a diameter of 13-23 inches. 4-6 eggs are laid from March through July.
Scrub
Jays are among the most intelligent of animals. The are the only non-primate that plans for the future. They can remember the locations of over
200 food caches and the food item in each. They can summon others to screech
over the body of a dead jay “funeral” for up to half an hour.
