I rarely see new baby or juvenile scrub-jay birds in the areas I frequently walk. Maybe twice in the last ten years have I seen a new group of young birds (6 birds total in 10 years). I am happy to announce that there are a new young generation of birds in my area. From what I have seen, there are three new birds this year. They were hatched and have been raised in the more sparsely populated area which I have written about before. It is located further away from humans and other birds. But, it is more dangerous because the scrub is completely overgrown and I often se predatory birds back there.
I am not totally sure, because without leg bands its hard to tell the birds apart, but I think one of the juveniles somehow made its way to the front of the area where I usually walk, away from the others. There is a chasm of non-scrubby area between these two areas so this is quite surprising to me. I need to do more investigation before I declare this one to be one of the three I have witnessed in the back areas.
The juvenile located in the front section of this area seems to be following around an adult bird I know very well. Is this a parent bird? I have not noticed them together before. Its quite confusing actually.
Anyway, this adult is by far the friendliest bird out there. She will purposely fly right directly in front of my face to gain my attention and startle me. She will sit on my shoulder and preen herself and not even worry about trying to get a treat from me. I honestly believe she just likes the interaction. I will whistle a little song to her and she seems genuinely interested. “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands” 🙂
When the adult grabs an eggcorn or insect, the juvenile will chase after her and perform the begging/crying routine that younger birds do to get fed. Sometimes the adult will relent and feed the juvenile while other times she will not.
I got to witness the adult chastising the juvenile for going after a nut that she just buried in the ground. She sort of got in her face and made a shrill noise and did a light pecking on the younger bird. All part of growing up I suppose.
It is so fascinating for me to watch this species of bird do their thing. There is nothing else like it for me.