Two days ago I was out in front of my house with my two children and noticed
that a Blue Jay was showing interesting behavior. It was perched on a crabapple
branch and kept jumping to the ground and then back up to the branch in an area
of shrubs and hostas. Eventually the Blue Jay flew up to the branch carrying a
baby rabbit that was probably a little larger than a chicken egg. I was with my
children so I didn't get a chance to go see what happened immediately
afterwards. About an hour later I went out to get something from my car and
there was the Blue Jay perched in a Honey Locust tree devouring the baby
rabbit. The Blue Jays in my neighborhood are generally quite wary and will not
allow close approach but this bird seemed highly focused on it's meal.
On 5/23/15 I was hiking up the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend National Park in
Texas and noticed a Mexican Jay doing almost exactly the same thing as the Blue
Jay. It was perched on a branch then fluttered to the ground and back up again.
It repeated the behavior several times until it started tugging on something
under a fern which turned out to be a small rabbit. The Mexican Jay ended up
leaving the rabbit on the ground, probably because it was too big to kill and
eat. At that time I was shocked to see this behavior in a jay but after seeing
the smaller Blue Jay do the same thing makes me think it is likely a common
behavior in jays.
I really love seeing avian predation in Minneapolis because it reminds me that
the animals around us, even in a big city, are going through the struggles of
survival just as animals in wilderness areas are.
Cheers,
Jason Caddy
Minneapolis
[email protected]
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