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Blue Jay Clicks

16 years ago

I've lived amongst blue jays all my 63 years and this week is the first time I've heard them make a clicking sound. Am I the only one not familiar with this? Why do they do it, what does it mean? I think there's a whole family in my yard because I usually don't have more than one or two at a time.

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Comments (3)

rachel_frome_ky
16 years ago
They make that sound to communicate with family members but I don't know the meaning.
I routinely discourage Blue Jays from coming around my front yard since they prey on song bird eggs and nestlings. I'd come to the window and shoo them away and used tube feeders they couldn't access, but last year they nested in the front Tulip Poplar tree, but so high I couldn't see them from the picture window. They'd come over the roof silently, keeping out of sight and silent. They even took the fledglings into the woods next to my bedroom window to teach them to fly. Since they weren't harassing the song birds in the front yard I didn't mind.
ronm80
16 years ago
I know the sound you are talking about, never heard it before until this year. A BJ parent brings it's 3 babies to my suet feeder 3 and 4 times a day. BJs eating suet is a first for me.
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Scott Francis
2 years ago
I feed Bluejays peanuts out of a suet cage. One is extremely friendly to me, tapping my shoulder before landing nearby then making that clicking noise. Sources have said it is a vocalization to communicate with their family or to greet others. I like the idea of this heavily bearded BJ greeting me when I am out in my yard. The BJ has even landed on my windowscreen to call into my house when the cage is empty. He is my little buddy.

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