Baby Blue Jay

Baby Blue Jay

Blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) seem to consider our garden as a prime location for building nests. Previously, they had a nest on the lemon tree and on the Cecile Brunner rose that was by our front door.  But the best so far was when they had a nest on a three-foot tall standard rose in the backyard.  My two older kids, who were then very young, looked at the eggs every day.  This year, our resident blue jays built another nest on the grape arbor.  My daughter (younger) watched them as they gathered twigs for the nest.  She observed every activity there - touched the three eggs and then heard the little baby blue jays claim their worm every feeding time. When the nest became too small for them and the mommy bird prodded them to fly but one of them was still too weak to take flight. It fell to the ground.  We put it back to the nest that night but soon we saw her in one of the bushes where she was safe.

Getting ready for the first flight.

It is amazing to watch the birds take care of their young - they are like humans in the way they teach their kids - one lesson at a time.  The other day I watched the parent blue jays teach the babies to splash water from the bird bath.  It was amusing.

Out of the nest for the first time.

 Attract the blue jays to your vegetable garden with corn or peanut seeds.  And they will eat all your tomato hornworms too.