We live in the midst of many trees and often hear the call “Jay Jay Jay.” I love that this is one call that everyone in my family can identify, from our 2 year old to my husband. You might have heard Sammy in the trees and not realized it before. Listen in on the call:
Thornton W. Burgess actually gives Sammy Jay a big role in many of his books. This makes sense because they are prominent and well-known birds. They are very easily identified, however, you may not know that they are actually very intelligent.
Burgess writes about Sammy and Blacky the Crow in a chapter labeling them both robbers. But he picks up on the intelligence and even help Blue Jays can give to other birds.
There are no sharper eyes anywhere than those of Sammy Jay, and I’ll have to say this for him, that whenever he discovers any danger he always gives us warning. He has saved the lives of a good many of us feathered folks in this way. If it wasn’t for this habit of stealing our eggs I wouldn’t have a word to say against him, but at that, he isn’t as bad as Blacky the Crow….
Burgess speaking through the character of Jenny Wren p. 85, Living Books Press Edition
Even allaboutbird.org identifies that “Blue Jays are known to take and eat eggs and nestlings of other birds, (adding) but we don’t know how common this is. In an extensive study of Blue Jay feeding habits, only 1% of jays had evidence of eggs or birds in their stomachs. Most of their diet was composed of insects and nuts.” (source)
Here are the other things we gleaned from our resources about Sammy Jay:
Blue Jays are smaller than a crow, but surprisingly, they are still quite big. It’s amazing to see their sharp demeanors and strength as they go about their day around the spinney. Until the next time, keep on birding <3 Kate
