STELLER SKREEKA!

    The Jays are back. Peanut loving  Steller Jays. British Columbia's provincial bird. Named after Georg Willhelm Steller who  was the first European to find them in 1741. (Cyanocitta stelleri) Say THAT five times fast. Gorgeous birds. They like the forests. .But they like open spaces even better.

 They go in packs. Usually in groups up to 10. Sassy and bossy.

They torment  neighbourhood cats. But Cordelia seems immune.She's far too pretty to be worried.

They stuff themselves with raw peanuts. They hide them. They forget about where they hid them. Then they want more......

                          

 They hack at the shell, swallowing  peanuts whole.They have this call that sounds  like a rusty old handle: "SHACK! Skeck, skeck, skeck.....". Or like a cat horking up a hair ball. I can't decide which.....

But  when they see the cats it sounds more like :" SKREEKA! SKREEKA! SKREEKA!" Deafening. Smokey and Spencer can't quite figure them out. Steller Jays can be found anywhere from Alaska to Nicaragua, eating everyting they see; they're omnivores. Especially sunflower seeds and peanuts.Sometimes lizards, or snakes.Sometimes just peanuts.

  Big scavengers.  Especially of human sites. Smart. They keep the cats guessing.
"What nature delivers to us is never stale. Because what nature creates has eternity in it."
                                      (Isaac Bashevis Singer)

 Really good at being bird call mimics. Especially of hawks, and osprey. They are so good, apparently, that other birds will go into hiding. Leaves more peanuts and sunflower seeds for them. The female will then rattle her calls, and the male will answer with a less manly "Gleep! Gleep! Gleep!" Then it's time to descend on the seed trays and gobble gobble........Brilliant technique. Then it's time to put out more peanuts. And watch it all over again.