The kiddos and I were watching the Blue Jays noisily decend upon the platform feeder in our backyard. You could hear their raucous calls from a couple yards away. They were youngsters we thought, by their messy crown feathers and not so sharp colors.
I’ll admit, I was a little annoyed by their bawdy presence, and then I checked myself. This is the seasonal shift that Blue Jays are cueing us into; they’re one of the messengers of fall. They get together in these packs and move across the neighborhood looking for food sources. In the woodlands, they’re finding the great acorn and beechnut patches. Here, it was sunflower seed.
Then Blue Jay reminded me how truly amazing they are by gobbling down more seed as we sat there watching.
I said to our kiddos, “You know, they’re not really eating that now.”
”WHAAAAT?” Was the response.
”Yeah, they’ve got this thing called a crop that they can hold a bunch of seeds in…”
”Like Chipmunk?!”
”Yup.”
That simple observation then set us off on a questioning adventure. I was curious where the crop was anatomically, they wanted to know how much can fit in there. Here’s what we learned…
It’s not a true crop! It’s called a gular pouch that is located in their throat and upper esophagus.
You can watch to see the gular pouch plump out! Look at the white part just below the base of the bill. It’s kinda outlined by the black feathers that make a collar around the jays neck.
They can cram up to 3 acorns in the pouch, hold one in their mouth, and one more with their bill. That’s a takeaway of 5 acorns!
So we watched the Blue Jays even more intently, with the question how many sunflower seeds could they hold. Someone started counting each time the jay dipped it’s head back after scooping a seed. Can you believe we got to 52 before the jay flew off!?! That’s assuming it was just one seed each time! What if they could scoop up two or even three seeds? Wow, just wow.
Now I can’t stop looking at them with wonder and appreciation. I’m grateful that my Slow Birding practice has showed me what observing without judgement can lead to - it’s kind of a gift really. And it brings a little buzz from the bliss of discovery.
What will you discover this fall as you pay attention to Nature’s messages? Read the quote below and I invite you to share your thoughts and observations in the comments.
~With kindness, Bridget~
“We are never ready for autumn, when the almanac doles out September. Mind and body are relaxed and expanded by the liberal juices of summer, the air above is still soft, the grass richly green, the eye filled with colourand focused for sunlight, the skin pores moist, respirative, and the house of the body unguarded. So Nature, never abrupt, sends a bird message-a gentle, unjarring reminder-to prepare the way, before a single tree shows the red flag of warning or a chilly breath contracts the muscles. ”