Buckeyecash
New member
First proof/documentation of Blue Jay tool use in the wild?
I found this site searching for information about the above topic. I decided to join so I could post a request for help with the information and questions below. This is a pretty extensive post for a first post so I thank you in advance for reading through it.
Everything I have looked up and found for Blue Jay tool usage lists the only documentation as laboratory raised captive Blue Jays using g a piece of paper to drag seeds or food pellets closer to the cage so that it could reach them. Every reference to that documentation also states that tool usage has never been witnessed/documented in the wild. Even on the Cornell Lab site “All About Birds” Blue Jay page it states, and I quote, “Tool use has never been reported for wild Blue Jays, but captive Blue Jays used strips of newspaper to rake in food pellets from outside their cages.”
Blue Jay Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
I contacted the Cornell Lab of Ornithology via the contact page twice that I had witnessed and photographed a series of 62 high resolution photos of a Blue Jay in the wild making and using a tool to hunt and extract a spider from under bark on a dead branch of a pine tree. I understand that they receive thousands of contacts/emails a month so I was not surprised that the only reply, both times, was a canned response to find the identification information I was seeking on the Cornell Lab site and to join E-Bird if I wanted to post photos etc. I am already a member. Also, I had already posted a couple photos of the Blue Jay with the spider but not any photos of the Blue Jay making or using the ‘tool’.
I posted this information on the Cornell All About Birds discussion pages Community Forums. It has only been a day or two, so I am waiting for a reply. May take a while since, surprisingly, the forum does not look to be very popular.
Community Forum | Bird Academy • The Cornell Lab
I have also tried to contact the Ohio Ornithological Society and am waiting to see if they reply.
So, in the mean time, if there is a chance anybody here may know of anybody at the Cornell Lab that might have an interest in this series of photos can someone direct me to a contact that will not respond with a canned reply?
If I can figure out how to do it, I will also post one of the images I posted on my E Bird account of the Blue Jay with the spider.
Thank you for your interest and replies.
I found this site searching for information about the above topic. I decided to join so I could post a request for help with the information and questions below. This is a pretty extensive post for a first post so I thank you in advance for reading through it.
Everything I have looked up and found for Blue Jay tool usage lists the only documentation as laboratory raised captive Blue Jays using g a piece of paper to drag seeds or food pellets closer to the cage so that it could reach them. Every reference to that documentation also states that tool usage has never been witnessed/documented in the wild. Even on the Cornell Lab site “All About Birds” Blue Jay page it states, and I quote, “Tool use has never been reported for wild Blue Jays, but captive Blue Jays used strips of newspaper to rake in food pellets from outside their cages.”
Blue Jay Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
I contacted the Cornell Lab of Ornithology via the contact page twice that I had witnessed and photographed a series of 62 high resolution photos of a Blue Jay in the wild making and using a tool to hunt and extract a spider from under bark on a dead branch of a pine tree. I understand that they receive thousands of contacts/emails a month so I was not surprised that the only reply, both times, was a canned response to find the identification information I was seeking on the Cornell Lab site and to join E-Bird if I wanted to post photos etc. I am already a member. Also, I had already posted a couple photos of the Blue Jay with the spider but not any photos of the Blue Jay making or using the ‘tool’.
I posted this information on the Cornell All About Birds discussion pages Community Forums. It has only been a day or two, so I am waiting for a reply. May take a while since, surprisingly, the forum does not look to be very popular.
Community Forum | Bird Academy • The Cornell Lab
I have also tried to contact the Ohio Ornithological Society and am waiting to see if they reply.
So, in the mean time, if there is a chance anybody here may know of anybody at the Cornell Lab that might have an interest in this series of photos can someone direct me to a contact that will not respond with a canned reply?
If I can figure out how to do it, I will also post one of the images I posted on my E Bird account of the Blue Jay with the spider.
Thank you for your interest and replies.
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