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A blue jay named Sï¿½syphos

albert_135 　 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.

12 years ago

We've a blue jay, or is it bluejay, that takes a peanut up to the top of the roof, puts it down, chases it as it rolls to the eve, grabs it and repeats, often several times.

Glitch somewhere, pasted Sisyphos, and got that garbage in the title line and cannot edit a title line.

This post was edited by albert_135 on Wed, Aug 7, 13 at 12:48

Featured Answer

GoldfinchGuy

12 years ago

As members of the corvid (crow) family jays are intelligent and inquisitive. They often show playful behavior with objects and even other birds and animals. The jays in my neighborhood had babies this spring and There's one that likes to tease my dog.

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Comments (8)

claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
12 years ago
A Blue Jay rolling peanuts down the roof, I like that. The jays here mostly just grab the peanuts and fly off (although I can't rule out that they're rolling peanuts on the roof of the house next door).

Pasting fonts from other sites sometimes gives weird results. I guess the fonts are not compatible with GW. I've posted a really strange title line also that I didn't see until too late.

Claire
catherinet
12 years ago
Haha......do you think its just not that smart, and plans on eating it at the top of the roof, but doesn't understand that its going to roll?
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surya55_gw
12 years ago
Okay so now I'm curious seeing that "catherinet" suggested that it may be trying to eat it up there- what was the outcome of the "game" which is what I thought originally? Did he fly away with it or settled down and eat it?
albert_135 　 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
Original Author
12 years ago
Don't know the ending of the story. Other jays appeared and they all left. Did they take the nut or lose it? I could not say.
stl57
12 years ago
Blue jays are one of my favorites but I question their intelligence at times when I see them "hiding" raw peanuts in the lawn by tucking the peanuts down in the blades of grass or tucking the peanuts under a leaf. After a 2" snowfall one year, they hid the peanuts by sticking them into the snow. The squirrels in my yard are very appreciative, however.
albert_135 　 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I just noticed another jaybird repeating a frustrating exercise (Play?). It would set a peanut on a black garden hose and the try to peck it very hard. The nut would flip off into the yard.

The bird would fetch it and put it back on the garden hose and try to peck it again.

The nut would flip into the yard again.

After perhaps 8-10 iterations it took the nut and flew away.
Olychick
7 years ago
I've seen crows place walnuts on a roof and roll them down until they are wedged against a squarish roof vent. They then can peck away without the nut rolling away. Sounds like the hose and peanut exercise might have been similar - something with some grip for pecking? Perhaps the jay was trying that on the roof, too.

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