Peanuts Too Expensive? The Other Blue Jay Favorite Food

[canonloader]

My brother brought some ears of field corn home the other day. He likes the rabbit living under the shed and brings them home for him. But guess who else loves them? And the sparrows can't chew them. ;)

Watch the size of this guys crop grow as he feasts.

http://www.flashbax.com/slide_shows/blue_jays/gallery/album1/large/bluejaycorn-db3b7350-102207.jpg

http://www.flashbax.com/slide_shows/blue_jays/gallery/album1/large/bluejaycorn-db3b7367-102207.jpg

http://www.flashbax.com/slide_shows/blue_jays/gallery/album1/large/bluejaycorn-db3b7378-102207.jpg

http://www.flashbax.com/slide_shows/blue_jays/gallery/album1/large/bluejaycorn-db3b7385-102207.jpg

http://www.flashbax.com/slide_shows/blue_jays/gallery/album1/large/bluejaycorn-db3b7391-102207.jpg

http://www.flashbax.com/slide_shows/blue_jays/gallery/album1/large/bluejaycorn-db3b7393-102207.jpg

[nwyman]

oh my I invested in some of this stuff two weeks ago. Shelled some myself and put it in the feeders and put a few ears around on the ground. No action. :cry:

[canonloader]

Nancy, I'm worried about your yard. It did take 3 weeks for the first bird to show up in my yard last summer, after I put a hanging feeder up. I got desperate and finally put some seeds on a yard table out in the open, and BAM, five minutes later I had a Titmouse and Chickadees hitting it. It wasn't long and they found the feeder, which was hanging in a small cherry tree out of sight from above. I think they just needed to be able to see it while flying over. A bare yard just isn't very interesting to them. :)

Invested? We have fields of the stuff all over here. My brother goes over there and gets the ears from storm fallen stalks and I intend to go glean the field after the picker goes through. Those things drop as many ears as they pick and just go to waste.

[memorex88]

Man what a pig you Jay is Mitch! Don't these guys ever choke on all the peanuts and corn they stuff in their piehole lol

[canonloader]

Marco, "When pigs fly" has less meaning for me now. I see it all the time. I waited til one of the Jays had filled up, then threw a peanut out there. He jumped on it, spewing corn kernals as he opened up wide enough to grab the peanut. I guess the crop is elastic. LOLOL

[hTr]

You have to have the Fattest Birds in town with all you feed them.

Nice Capture BTW

[canonloader]

Thanks Gary. Fat and sassy. I have one, the juvie from this summer, who will land on my window sill, pick over the fattest of a handful of peanuts I keep there for him, give me the eye and go back to the Lilac bush with it. I never expected it would work, but this juvie is very use to me, having seen me from his first day in the yard. :)

[Shar824]

These are great Mitch :) Maybe I need to find some ears of corn.....cause they sure don't seem to like the peanuts that are on the ground and in the peanut "holder" that came in last week.



Sharon

[gymell]

Haha - funny! A corn-fed midwestern blue jay. ;)

[canonloader]

Sharon, between you and Nancy, not getting any birds to come to your yards, I am starting to wonder what's going on with them. Never heard of such a thing. Although, when I first started putting food out, it took 3 weeks for the first birds to start showing up. I finally put some seeds on a yard table out in the middle of the yard, in the open where they could see them from the air. It didn't take long after that, minutes, and they were on it.

They may not be able to tell there is food around if all they see is the top of a feeder or it's hanging under the leaves of a tree. Once they find it though, they will always come back. :)

Liz, you got that right. They are getting visibly fatter. :)

[Candyd]

Wonderful shots, I never thought about getting field corn for the blue jays. That is a great idea :)

[canonloader]

Thanks Candy, get some Acorns too, if you can find some, they love those also. :)

[Shar824]

Mitch I've got birds.... just not those "blue ducks" you have taking your peanuts. The jays are around just don't seem to be interested in the peanuts for some reason. The chicks and tits are usually in a steady stream going back and forth between the feeders, the blueberry bush and the pecan trees. And of course I have more than my share of house finches. I've even had the woodpecker's hang on to the bottom of the feeder's and grab a bite.....but haven't even seen them do that lately. My feeder's are beside my blueberry bush and that's where they've been for the last 3 years. Maybe when it gets cold and they can't find anything else they'll start paying attention to the peanuts. And then again these "southern" jays may just be weird. :D


Sharon

[Alex Paul]

Great detail on the Jays Mitch :) :)

[canonloader]

Sharon, it must be the abundance of food around in the woods then. I know mine stayed away all summer, till all the plants in the woods started dying, so that's probably it. I'll be interested in hearing what happens later in the fall. :)

Thanks Alex. Ya know, we have had one, count em, one day with a little bit of sun since the 1D got here. However, it is doing a good job in the 18% neutral gray world I live in, even at ISO 500. Have you been shooting with the Bigma? I hope your getting the light to use it to good effect. :)

[ajosteve]

Mitch that is a very funny series...I now figured out what you're doing...Fatten them up where they can't fly, then go over and pick them up and place them in the right pose for your photos...Ha, Ha.....steve

[nwyman]

[quote=canonloader;4170456]Nancy, I'm worried about your yard. It did take 3 weeks for the first bird to show up in my yard last summer, after I put a hanging feeder up. I got desperate and finally put some seeds on a yard table out in the open, and BAM, five minutes later I had a Titmouse and Chickadees hitting it. It wasn't long and they found the feeder, which was hanging in a small cherry tree out of sight from above. I think they just needed to be able to see it while flying over. A bare yard just isn't very interesting to them. :)

I'm in hopes that my dearth of birds is due to two things.
a. the drought
b. the abundance of natural things, like wild grapes, pokeweed, acorns and the like.

My little back yard is divided by a run-off swale, which is lined with rocks (and bone dry right now). On the other side of the ditch is a clump of viburnum a honey locust, a few beech trees, some stumps and a pile of fallen trees covered in vines and such. Beyond that is a narrow strip of lawn and a field that is currently in soybeans, which will be converted to winter wheat shortly.

There is wooded acreage a short distance off to the north and I think this is where everyone is hanging out right now. I saw a bunch of blue jays in there this morning

Meanwhile, I get an average of two white-breasted nuthatches, the red breasted one, two red-bellied woodpeckers, an occasional titmouse and a few chickadees. This is how it was when I moved in last November - hopefully things will pick up as the natural supply goes downhill.
I'm not even seeing a lot of squirrel action these days - even with the shelled corn in and around the feeder.
It's strange, no doubt about it.

[canonloader]

Thanks Steve. I have to admit, I didn't think of that, but it's a good idea. :lol:

[canonloader]

Nancy, it could be the drought. Do you have a bird bath up and full? Water should bring in some birds. I would think though, with a serieous drought, there would be a lot less natural food out there for them.

[nwyman]

Nancy, it could be the drought. Do you have a bird bath up and full? Water should bring in some birds. I would think though, with a serieous drought, there would be a lot less natural food out there for them.

yes, I have two bird baths. One gets occasional customers (the one by the popular feeder). The other is pretty much ignored. And I don't fill it all the way up, just enough for them to spritz in.
Despite the drought, the acorn harvest seems plentiful, ditto with beechnuts. I see lots of pokeweed, Russian olives and wild grapes. And lets not forget the bugs.

[EdV]

Nice crisp images but my God, Mitch. He's gonna explode!

[canonloader]

LOL, Ed, I threw a peanut out there after he filled up and he opened wide to grab the peanut and the corn started coming back up. :lol:

They are little pigs.

[MicheleRF]

Wow Mitch! He really get his gullet full doesn't he? Nice shots!

[canonloader]

Thanks Michele. Yes, they all eat till they are full then they look around for more. Amazing sight. :lol:

[rw2]

Can they still fly? Nice shots!

[canonloader]

Hey RW, yeah, they can fly, with a short run to get up speed. :)

[Sindri Skulason]

Excellent series. :-)

[Peepaw]

Nice pics Mitch. I wonder now if the Jays around here are what's eating up the corn that I put out for the deer.

[village idiot]

What a pig! Funny!

[canonloader]

Thanks Sindri, Scott and Bob. Scott, I wouldn't doubt it. They love the corn and can zip the kernals off the cob as fast as they can swallow them. I guess they see it as a treat and it's a natural food they are use to, just not this time of year. They can't get at it when it's on the stalk and covered with a husk, only after it's been picked and a few percent of the totals, fall to the ground from the picker. :lol: