) shown above and below made his appearance with the grackles this morning as predicted. This is another particularly nasty bird that happens to be the only "brood parasite" in North America. The female does not make a nest of her own, but instead lays her eggs in the nest of other birds, which end up raising the cowbird chicks along with their own chicks. So the cowbirds do not invest any time or energy raising their own young. What a "mean" or . . . "smart" bird! Let me think about that . . . someone else pays to raise your kids. . . umm.
The Blue Jay (
Cyanocitta cristata) is a pretty bird with an annoying call. I can remember seeing a lot more of them growing up than I do now; but then again, I spent a lot more time where these birds hung out such as in my dad's apple trees, pear trees, cherry trees, fig trees, and mulberry trees. I would climb up in these trees and eat whatever was ripe at the time and so would these blue jays. Speaking of blue jays, did your mother ever use the expression, "naked as a jay bird"; mine sure did. Where did that saying come from? It is certainly an American expression and there are several ideas on the matter. For example, a "jay" was a term used to describe a country bumpkin that was visiting the big city; this rube didn't know where or even that there was a proper place to cross the city streets, so being from the country these jays just crossed where ever and whenever they wanted to get to the other side. . . hence they were guilty of "jay walking." It could be that these country bumpkins were so poorly dressed compared to the city folks that the expression, "naked as a jay bird" was born. I have my own theory. There are some birds that are called precocial, meaning they hatch out of the egg with their eyes wide open and covered in at least a full set of down feathers. Everyone has seen baby chickens and ducks covered in yellow down and running all over the place as soon as they break out of the eggshell. Turkey, quail, grouse, and many other birds are precocial. However, Blue jays are what we call altricial birds, which means their young are born blind and without feathers. They look like little plucked chickens. I can remember looking at these blue jay chicks in their nest many of times and they were "naked as a jay bird."
Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana)
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) shown above and below made his appearance with the grackles this morning as predicted. This is another particularly nasty bird that happens to be the only "brood parasite" in North America. The female does not make a nest of her own, but instead lays her eggs in the nest of other birds, which end up raising the cowbird chicks along with their own chicks. So the cowbirds do not invest any time or energy raising their own young. What a "mean" or . . . "smart" bird! Let me think about that . . . someone else pays to raise your kids. . . umm.
The Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) is a pretty bird with an annoying call. I can remember seeing a lot more of them growing up than I do now; but then again, I spent a lot more time where these birds hung out such as in my dad's apple trees, pear trees, cherry trees, fig trees, and mulberry trees. I would climb up in these trees and eat whatever was ripe at the time and so would these blue jays. Speaking of blue jays, did your mother ever use the expression, "naked as a jay bird"; mine sure did. Where did that saying come from? It is certainly an American expression and there are several ideas on the matter. For example, a "jay" was a term used to describe a country bumpkin that was visiting the big city; this rube didn't know where or even that there was a proper place to cross the city streets, so being from the country these jays just crossed where ever and whenever they wanted to get to the other side. . . hence they were guilty of "jay walking." It could be that these country bumpkins were so poorly dressed compared to the city folks that the expression, "naked as a jay bird" was born. I have my own theory. There are some birds that are called precocial, meaning they hatch out of the egg with their eyes wide open and covered in at least a full set of down feathers. Everyone has seen baby chickens and ducks covered in yellow down and running all over the place as soon as they break out of the eggshell. Turkey, quail, grouse, and many other birds are precocial. However, Blue jays are what we call altricial birds, which means their young are born blind and without feathers. They look like little plucked chickens. I can remember looking at these blue jay chicks in their nest many of times and they were "naked as a jay bird."
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