We have a Swainson's Hawk pair that nests in our neighborhood and the Blue Jays take full advantage of the Swainson's Hawk call year-round, giving me quite a scare in winter! I have learned the subtle differences over time, but it took quite some time and especially today awaiting the next push of Swainson's Hawks I was caught off guard.
Bryan Guarente Meteorologist/Instructional Designer UCAR/The COMET Program Boulder, CO On Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 4:18 PM Doug Ward <[email protected]> wrote: > I'd usually come up with a story like this one for the middle of next week > (check the dates), but was thrown off enough with this true encounter this > morning (Fri., 27 Mar.'20), felt I would share and see if anyone else has > had a similar experience. Anyway, we were respecting the current lock > down/in/whatever you want to call it, out in the back yard (Denver, Denver > Co.) playing with the dogs when I heard the characteristic "ki-ki-ki..." of > an American Kestrel nearby. We get kestrels coming around only very > periodically, so thought "cool, where is he?" Scanned the sky, looked to > the tree tops, to see if I could find him, nothing. However, it kept > calling, so walked around trying to find the now frustrating bird. Only > when I noticed a bird fly out of a tree down the alley, still giving the > call, that I had my WTF moment - it was a BLUE JAY!! Now we are all > familiar with jays of all flavors giving Red-tailed Hawk type cries, but > this was the first time I'd heard one giving a perfect American Kestrel > call! > > So have any of y'all had this specific (I guess inter-species) fake out > happen with Blue Jays, or any other jay, before? Interested in your > experiences. Stay safe and healthy. > > Cheers, > Doug > Denver > > *27 March 2020 – Home in Southwest Denver, Denver Co., CO* > Canada Goose – 2 (flyover) > Rock Pigeon – 5 > Eurasian Collared-Dove – 3 > Ring-billed Gull – 1ad (flyover) > Northern Flicker – 4 “Red-shafted” > American Kestrel – FAKE NEWS!! > Blue Jay – 5 > Black-capped Chickadee – 6 > Bushtit – 5 > European Starling – 1 > American Robin – 2 > House Finch – 15 > Dark-eyed Junco – 2 “Slate-colored” > - 1 “Oregon” > - 5 “Pink-sided” > Spotted Towhee – 1m > Red-winged Blackbird – 1m > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/82649421.560176.1585347509656%40mail.yahoo.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/82649421.560176.1585347509656%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAENnWHv1AyzEqouhqpfZMz_tU0i0RWcXiq2v9c%3DPOW1gyHHDxg%40mail.gmail.com.
