Yesterday as I worked in my yard I was surprised to hear a Red-tail Hawk calling as it sounded nearby. As I live in a residential area that is not conducive to buteo hawk hunting I tried to locate it. I walked around and around as it called several more times but I couldn't locate it in my neighbor's trees. As I pondered the slim possibility that it was somehow perched on the backside of my large blue spruce, I spotted a Blue Jay in my neighbor's tree as it gave the Red-tail call. This jay really had that Red-tail call down pat. Today the Blue Jay was back and giving the Red-tail call again but had taken off by the time I got something to try to record it with.
Since I put peanuts in a tray feeder that the Blue Jays take, I suspect it may have been using the Red-tail call to chase off the small birds from the feeder. Or maybe, since it didn't go to the feeder either day, it has just learned that it can get humans to walk around in circles trying to locate the hawk and this very intelligent species has learned to enjoy this (jay#1 to jay#2--"hey, watch me get this silly human to stop what they are doing and walk all around the yard looking for a hawk, ha,ha, ha"). By the way, yesterday I also surprised heard a cricket chirping-(it was about 50 degrees F)! The sound appeared to be coming from under the snow that covered a leaf covered part of my garden, possibly providing insulation that kept it alive in below freezing temps? Though it was warmer today, almost 70, I didn't hear it again. No, I'm not even going to consider it possible that the Blue Jay was chirping like a cricket and also projecting it's voice to the leaf covered garden like a ventriloquist. SeEtta Moss Canon City Personal blog @ http://BirdsAndNature.blogspot.com<http://birdsandnature.blogspot.com/> Blogging for Birds and Blooms magazine @ Birds and Blooms blog southcentral/<http://birdsandbloomsblog.com/category/southcentral/> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
