Blue Jays practice tough love
If you were watching the birdfeeder cam this morning, you saw Blue Jays and heard a whole lot of loud, incessant squawking. The squawking was coming from three juveniles. They have their adult feathers but hardly any crests at all – all three heads are fairly smooth. When one of the juveniles was on the platform feeder, besides the lack of a crest, it was in begging posture. This is submissive behavior used to signal a parent to feed it.
The juvenile will most often begin with that loud squawking – I am guessing to get the parent’s attention: FEED ME! FEED ME! FEED ME NOWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!! It will also lower itself, unfold its wings, arch them a bit and flutter them. And the beak will be open. When the juveniles are first out of the nest, this behavior works very well. Which ever parent is closest will often pop something right into the juvenile’s open beak.
But as with many parents, as time goes by, enough is enough. Blue Jay juveniles are persistent and they will dog their parents all day long. After a week or so of catering to their every need, both parents will start to ignore their juveniles. This behavior is to encourage the juveniles to start fending for themselves and after a few days, and the juveniles get hungry enough, they will do exactly that. They will begin to leave their parents alone and start finding their own food. And this is as it should be.
If you were watching this morning, you would have actually seen a parent give a juvenile a push to independence. The juvenile was loudly squawking, had its wings fluttering, and looked straight at the parent who was also on the platform feeder. The parent raised its crest to its fullest, opened its beak, and lunged at the juvenile. The juvenile flew off the feeder immediately. Point made.
Sometimes youngsters need a hard push from their parents to start their lives as self-sufficient adults. Blue Jays excel at this. Any of this sound familiar?