Katy Penland
Well-known member
After doing a search here on BF for this behavior and finding no reference to it, thought I'd ask if anyone here has any info. Cornell's site doesn't mention this, either.
Steller's and other jays, when selecting whole (unshelled, roasted) peanuts will systematically pick up one after another until deciding on one and taking off with it. The speculation here on BF (and elsewhere) is that the birds are possibly weighing the peanuts to take the heaviest (best) one.
However, after years of watching that behavior, I've now seen another one relative to the same kind of peanut that I've never observed until moving to this location (California). Same species (Steller's) but the coastal variant (not the interior west that I observed for several years in high alpine, north central Arizona).
And that behavior is, a jay will BRING BACK a selected peanut after having flown off with it, drop it on the deck with the remaining peanuts, and choose another.
My question is why would they do this? Why wouldn't the bird just drop it wherever it flew off to and then come back to select another? I find it utterly fascinating that a wild bird will return to exchange one peanut for another a la a human retail store.
Anyone else ever see this behavior? Or know why?
Steller's and other jays, when selecting whole (unshelled, roasted) peanuts will systematically pick up one after another until deciding on one and taking off with it. The speculation here on BF (and elsewhere) is that the birds are possibly weighing the peanuts to take the heaviest (best) one.
However, after years of watching that behavior, I've now seen another one relative to the same kind of peanut that I've never observed until moving to this location (California). Same species (Steller's) but the coastal variant (not the interior west that I observed for several years in high alpine, north central Arizona).
And that behavior is, a jay will BRING BACK a selected peanut after having flown off with it, drop it on the deck with the remaining peanuts, and choose another.
My question is why would they do this? Why wouldn't the bird just drop it wherever it flew off to and then come back to select another? I find it utterly fascinating that a wild bird will return to exchange one peanut for another a la a human retail store.
Anyone else ever see this behavior? Or know why?