Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 61
By Marcia Bonta
jaybirds
Resourceful and vocally diverse
E
VERY WINTER my feeder birds
are mostly the same, both in species
and numbers. But usually there is at least
one surprise even in winters when no
northern finch irruptions occur.
Last winter was the year of blue jays,
often nicknamed "jaybirds" because of
their calls.
We live tucked away atop a mountain so we've never had more than a
couple blue jays at our feeders over the
46 years we've lived here, and many
winters none. But beginning in early
December, blue jays started appearing
in greater numbers, just as the cold and
snow set in.
On Dec. 16, with the thermometer at
3 degrees, I counted 10 blue jays at our
feeder area. From then until late January,
numbers varied from seven to a high of
11 on Jan. 16, when they blanketed the
ground with their electric-blue color.
Usually they stayed on the ground to
feed, sparring with each other and the
gray squirrels, while mourning doves
and the smaller songbirds hung out
around the periphery or visited the feeders, which, in turn, were dominated by a
pair of red-bellied woodpeckers.
At least some of the blue jays roosted
in our Norway spruce grove and sounded
DECEMBER 2017
their clarion jayjay calls
whenever I
neared it on
my daily walks.
By mid-February,
blue jay numbers at
the feeders had
diminished. I
last recorded
five blue jays
on Feb. 20 and then
no more.
Despite being common
birds that almost anyone can identify,
these clever members of the Corvid
family are not as easy to study as other
corvids, such as American crows, because they are secretive and quiet during
the spring and summer when they are
courting, mating and raising young.
But as acorns ripen on oak trees, these
forest denizens announce their presence
here, picking and eating acorns and
beechnuts before they fall to the ground.
Last autumn, both the red and white
oaks produced a huge crop of acorns,
and no matter where I walked, I could
61
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017
Contents
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - Cover1
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - Cover2
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - Contents
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 2
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 3
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 4
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 5
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 6
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 7
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 8
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 9
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 10
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 11
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 12
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 13
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 14
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 15
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 16
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 17
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 18
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 19
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 20
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 21
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 22
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 23
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 24
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 25
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 26
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 27
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 28
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 29
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 30
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 31
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 32
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 33
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 34
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 35
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 36
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 37
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 38
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 39
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 40
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 41
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 42
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 43
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 44
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 45
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 46
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Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 48
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 49
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 50
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 51
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 52
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 53
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 54
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 55
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 56
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 57
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 58
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 59
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 60
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 61
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 62
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 63
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - 64
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - Cover3
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2017 - Cover4
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