They know the drill. When they see me heading out to the shed in the back yard each morning, my small flock of blue jays begins to spread the word. With a piercing, hawk-like shriek, one blue jay lets the others know that dinner is on. They’ll soon be eating peanuts.
Blue jays are noisy birds, perhaps the most vocal of all my backyard songbirds. They have five distinct calls and use different ones, for example, to alert one another that food is served, a predator is around, they are preparing to migrate as a flock, or they’re just happy to see one another.
Blue jays eat a variety of foods including fruits, insects, small nuts, and seeds, but they dearly love peanuts.
I try to keep a bag in the shed on hand and toss out a handful when I scatter food to my other ground feeders in the back.
Once they see me, the shrieking begins, and blue jays show up from every direction. I now have at least five that hang close to the house. They fly to a tree close by and continue to shriek, then one finally lands among the scattered peanuts. Others soon follow, they snatch up the nuts, and then fly to a distant tree to peck at it and eat it, then they’re back for more, scurrying quickly before the squirrels get them.
In the summer, I generally have two families of jays in the area that visit my feeders and feed their young. They especially enjoy my peanut suet bar. Blue jays are both fun and colorful, and I’m glad to have them around.