How can a little bird with a brain the size of a grain of rice figure this out?

[NNN0LHI]

Sitting outside today when I heard what sounded "almost" exactly like a Coopers Hawk coming from one of the trees.

Just like always when this happens all the birds feeding at my neighbors feeder flew away like they were about to become some Hawks breakfast. But I continued watching and guess what happened?

About a minute after all the birds that were feeding were gone a Blue Jay flew out of the tree that I thought I had heard the Coopers Hawk coming from and went right to the bird feeder and began eating all by itself until it started getting crowded again with other birds.

About 5 minutes later that same Jay flew back up into one of the trees and I could actually see and hear it mimicking the sound of the Coopers Hawks that we have around here. Not exact. But damn close. I would say about 85% close. And all the little birds flew off again to hide in terror.

Then the Jay flew back to the feeder and continued to gorge itself all alone again.

Is this behavior common for Jays? Anyone ever seen this happen before?

I was amazed to say the least.

Don

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. that sounds right ...Blue Jays can be mean, too.

Behavior

The Blue Jay is a moderately slow flier (roughly 32–40 km/h (20-25 mi/h)) when unprovoked)<10> and therefore, easy prey for hawks and owls when flying in open areas. It flies with body and tail held level, with slow wing beats.

The Blue Jay can be beneficial to other bird species, as it may chase predatory birds, such as hawks and owls, and will scream if it sees a predator within its territory. It has also been known to sound an alarm call when hawks or other dangers are near, and smaller birds often recognize this call and hide themselves away accordingly. It may also be aggressive towards humans who come close to its nest, and if an owl roosts near the nest during the daytime the Blue Jay mobs it until it takes a new roost. However, Blue Jays have also been known to attack or kill other smaller birds.<11> Jays are very territorial birds, and they will chase others from a feeder for an easier meal. Additionally, the Blue Jay has a bad reputation for raiding other birds' nests, stealing eggs, chicks, and nests. However, this may not be as widespread as is typically thought.<12>

Blue Jays, like other corvids, are highly curious and are considered intelligent birds. Young individuals playfully snatch brightly colored or reflective objects, such as bottle caps or pieces of aluminium foil, and carry them around until they lose interest.<11> Blue jays in captivity have been observed using strips of newspaper as tools to obtain food,<13> while captive fledglings have been observed attempting to open the door to their cages <14>

more at link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Jay

[MilesColtrane]

2. When I put peanuts out for the birds, I've seen Jays jam two in their mouths...

then go hide one so other birds can't get it and eat the other.

I don't know if they're smart enough to later remember where they've hidden these tidbits.

In general though, I find Blue Jays to be real bastards.

[NNN0LHI]

3. I have always known Jays to be some mean birds too

But I still can't help but admire what I witnessed this one doing today.

I am still shaking my head in disbelief.

Don

[Curmudgeoness]

15. Meaner than a jay......a dove.

I have doves here that actually go after the jays and chase them away. So much for the bird of peace. Another illusion destroyed.

[7wo7rees]

8. I've had that.

One of the jays I feed peanuts to can carry one in the mouth and one on the tip of the beak.
Each has a distinct personality. One will go through the entire lot of peanuts until he finds just the right one.
Another one will divebomb the squirrels when they sit there and munch. The squirrels don't care. They just put up their invisibility shield tail and no one can see them.
Never seen one mimic a Cooper's hawk, but there is one that has been hanging out with a mockingbird and is trying his stuff out. He got chops.

[MilesColtrane]

9. re: picky Jays

Yeah, I've seen them pickup several peanuts, "weighing" them to see which is the biggest and best, before they decide which one to fly off with.

Funny birds...

[HopeHoops]

4. That Jay's karma is going to be when a REAL Coopers Hawk just happens to be passing by.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Blue jays are very smart.

They are members of the crow family (Corvidae), one of the smarter families of birds. I wouldn't be surprised at anything they came up with.

[dimbear]

11. Brain is more like a walnut in size than a rice grain.

And like most smart things, they use it to be nasty. Law of nature, I guess.

[sarge43]

6. Blue Jays are in the genus Corvus, cousins to crows, ravens, jackdaws, etc

They rank with parrots as the most intelligent birds and they're good mimics. Not surprising the jay observed the behavior of the other birds and put 2 and 2 together.

There's the famous report of a crow in Tokyo that would drop hard shell nuts in a roadway so that the cars would crush the shells. It learned to time the drop and pick up to correspond with the traffic lights, not the traffic flow.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. I've never seen that happen. At my feeder, when the blue jays arrive

they just run the little birds off and take what they want. They can be pretty aggressive.

[Duer 157099]

10. The real question is: how can humans, with much larger brains

be as stupid as many (teabaggers) are?

And a grain of rice? How small is that bird anyway? Even a hummingbird must have a brain larger than a grain of rice.

Unless this is jumbo rice of some variety.

[pokerfan]

12. I think the avian brain is more efficient

because it has to be. It needs to be light enough to allow the animal to fly resulting in a very efficient brain for its size. Bird brain, indeed...

I saw a parrot on Nova that could look at a tray of plastic objects and tell you how many were say, blue or what color there were say, four of.

Googling.... It was Alex, an African Gray that died too young.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_%28parrot%29


(1976 – 2007)

[sarge43]

17. Alex may have been a genius

When his person was establishing the training protocols, she decided that he wouldn't see anything orange, no toys, clothes, pictures, etc. A couple of years into the training, for the first time showed him an orange object. Alex stared at it hard for a moment, then said, "What color?"

I know people who don't have that degree of intellectual curiosity.

[pokerfan]

23. Reminds me of Chaser the Border Collie

Knows the names for over 1,000 toys. And can use deductive logic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6479QAJuz8 (3:53)

[Kat45]

28. Alex even understood the concept of zero, and he figured it out for himself.

Dr. Pepperberg had never taught him that. That bird died too young. I can only imagine what more he could have accomplished. Dr. Pepperberg is currently working with two other African Greys.

[Skittles]

13. yup Jays mimic the sounds of other birds

:D

[Curmudgeoness]

14. Interesting. I have a Blue Jay here that does the same thing.

I am even fooled by the call. I would never had expected that this is more common than just a fluke here.

By the way, jays are really smart birds. Don't underestimate them.

[NNN0LHI]

18. The call isn't perfect though is it?

Almost comparable to the call from some of the juvenile hawks I have heard as they are beginning to leave the nest and are just learning to fly and hunt.

About an octave or two different from an adult hawk. Not much. Like the jay couldn't quite mimic it exactly. But darn close. Notice that?

Don

[Curmudgeoness]

22. Although I bird watch all the time (and I mean watch birds)

I am not much of an expert on bird calls. I have tried, but my ear is just not discerning enough. So if the call is not exact, I am not surprised, but I always get fooled---I start looking for a hawk too. But since I am fooled and the other birds are fooled, it can't be too bad of a mimic.

Gotta love those birds, they are much smarter than we give them credit for, but then again, don't we do that with all animals?

[suninvited]

16. It probably learned it from another Jay

they are really smart.

Around my house, though, the mockingbirds can sure whip some Blue Jay ass!

[UTUSN]

19. I saw one being gratuitously malicious to a squirrel.

Gratuitously, because there was no palpable gain, no food involved, just malice.

I was walking up a long block away. There was a squirrel on a branch that was overhanging the walk up ahead. When I was getting close, suddenly a blue jay appeared and started swooping at and harassing the squirrel until the squirrel finally dropped just a few feet in front of me. It appeared to be very clear that the bird wanted the squirrel to be slaughtered by the approaching bi-ped. The squirrel froze for a second, staring at me, before skatting.

[sarge43]

20. Squirrels will raid birds' nests for the eggs, even the hatchlings.

There's a reason why they're called tree rats. That jay may have had a nest in that tree or just carrying on the ancient blood feud.

[UTUSN]

21. Ahhhh. So there's enough malice to go around in nature. Thanks. (no sarcasm here) n/t

[sarge43]

24. Plenty. We didn't invent it, just refined it. n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. Fascinating. I am glad you shared that.

Down here, jays are the sign of fall approaching, and we have a burst of them in the spring.
Noisy and raucous. Thankfully they are not around all the time.

[pokerfan]

26. We had a pair of magpies that would steal dogfood

Now the dog was an outside dog so the food was kept in the garage. One of the birds would enter on foot though the dog door on he side of the garage and begin taking pellets of food out of the dish and shoving them under the garage door. His compatriot in crime would then begin ferrying the nuggets one by one to from the front of the garage to (presumably) their nest. They would do this until they were interrupted or the dish was empty.

:rofl:

[Kat45]

27. Because birds are smart.

Jays are related to crows, and crows have been seen using tools.

[atomic-fly]

29. I have one that does that also

I thought it was a hawk, finally I spotted the jay making the hawk sound. Tricksy!

[XemaSab]

30. Jays are very smart

They imitate hawk calls a lot.

They plant a lot of pecans and oaks around here.