the jay

how nice is he :D

 

Amazing birds to see up close, especialy on a bright day.

 

Ste he's not after roasting his nuts on your barbie is he :D great shots you will soon have him on your hand.

 

cheers walnut he a little belter ..your the champ at getting them in your hand but the jay is getting very close considering how much of a shy bird they are. ive got two now but one stays in the tree he not sure yet

 

Lucky you getting up that close to take pictures of the jay, Imp, as they are so shy and fly off when they see the least movement. I can't see you getting him to sit on your hand, but it would be marvellous if he did decide to! Fingers crossed for you.

We have plenty of jays around here but as said, the least movement and they are gone. It's odd, sometimes we see them nearly every day and other times we don't see them for months.

 

You're getting closer to him Imp! Perhaps .....?

 

no its probably the nicest bird i have seen with the naked eye and quite suprised to have one visiting every morning but with a beak that size thats as close as im gettin . ill keep posting pics because them colours ars brilliant

 

well done imp,
i didn't think jays were in urban areas (sorry if i'm being presumptious here), jealous!
well done for getting pics.
we only get common or garden birds here, although fields around. my eyesight is bad now. seen some goldfinches once here!
used to be a bit of a birder myself.
i love the patterns on sparrows. how boring is that? i don't care. but let us know how the jay is doing & if his partner comes down to feed.

cheers

 

Nothing boring about sparrows Borrowers I have a resident flock in my garden cheekie little chapies,great shot Ste well done try and get some acorns Jays absolutely love them they also have a habit of storing food they bury it for the hard times in winter and have a good memory and know were they put it.

 

you are right walnut nothing boring about sparrows or any other likkle birdies that come to visit .i will try some acorns wkend im gonna look after these jays and give em a good breaky over the winter..oh no im 36 and turning into a twitcher. going to have to do some reading up on these jays walnut would you know of any really good books went library today but not really much on jays found a little but not much

 

I think jays are supposed to be important in spreading oak trees around. Have you ever noticed oak seedlings growing a long way from oak trees? Due to the weight of acorns if it wasn't for some help all the seedlings would be next to the parent trees. Jays collect them and bury them for the winter. Fortunately their memories are not infallible. They reckon that it is because of jays that the oak forests were able to recolonise Britain after the Ice Age. I suppose without the help of jays the advance of the oak forests would have been so slow that the English Channel and North Sea would have filled up with water before they got back here.

 

Ste.seeing as you are into your apprenticeship as a twitcher a good book to have in your pocket for identifying any you come across is A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe by Roger Peterson,Guy Mountfort and P.A.D.Hollom
http://amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/202-3714573-3211056?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a+field+guide+to+birds+of+britain+and+europe&Go.x=11&Go.y=12
A bit of information about Jays on this site,
http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/birds/jay.htm