I have found through my years of backyard bird watching that my fine feathered friends have vocabularies all their own. Two of the most vocal birds, however, are my blue jays and crows. They are like widows on a party line. They love to yak it up.
Blue jays seem to come and go in my yard. They just disappear, then return. I didn’t see much of them during nesting season this summer and that may have something to do with my bluebirds. They hate blue jays and will attack them kamikaze style, chasing the predators away from their nests and young.
But a few weeks ago, when I began distributing bird seed with raisins and peanuts, the jays showed in force.
Seemingly, one stands guard and when they see me heading for the trash can with the seed, he’ll holler out, “Shriek, shriek, shriek. Here comes the human with the goodies.”
After I strew the seeds and am a safe distance away, the jays move in and quickly gobble up the fruit and nuts. They may eat a few sunflower seeds, but they are all over the special treats. About eight have stayed in my yard in recent weeks, more than usual.
The crows, however, are the real blabbermouths. I only have two crows at present. There used to be three, but perhaps that was a different group. But like the jays, the crows begin squawking as soon as I appear. It’s like they’re trying to alert every crow in Albemarle County.
“Caw, caw, caw, come eat some corn!”
The crows also raise hell if a hawk appears. A couple days ago, I heard them carrying on in the back yard. I went out to see, and sure enough, there was a hawk looking for a fresh dove breast for lunch. He didn’t get it, though. Both the crows and I chased him away.
Crows, they say, have over 25 different ways of communicating. They can also mimic sounds of other birds and even humans. They are very intelligent birds. Occasionally, I’ll toss out some stale bread or crackers, a crow will latch onto a piece and fly immediately to the bird bath and dunk it in the water, like a person would dunk a donut in a cup of coffee.
Here’s a couple more interesting things about crows.
Relative to their body size, a crow’s brain is larger than a human. They have been called “feathered apes” by some.
Secondly, crows have regional dialects. Some, I suppose, would have a southern drawl. Apart from the famous caw, caw noise, crows emit a number of othersounds and calls and each sends out a different message. Some cawing can be used as a territorial warning—or a way for crows to signal their location to relatives.
Both crows and jays are fascinating creatures and I love hearing them talk.