Our look at juvenile/immature birds concludes with the Florida Scrub-Jay. We are often asked, "what was your spark bird"? A spark bird is the species most responsible for someone becoming a birder. For us, the spark bird was the Florida Scrub-Jay. A pair of Scrub-Jays moved into our neighborhood in August of 2011 and we watched them raise four babies in 2012. He are some of our favorite photos of the babies growing up. Enjoy.
I'm youth, I'm joy, I'm a little bird that has broken out of the egg.
(James M. Barrie)
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| Photo #1 - Mom and Dad (3/28/12) |
Our current pair of Scrub-Jays. Dad is on the left, Mom (with leg bands) is on the right. We looked at hundreds of photos of them together, on a feeder, on a birdbath or perched on an overhead wire. We suspected that the banded one was the female. She seemed "slightly" smaller in the photos and to the naked eye.
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| Photo #2 - The kiss. (3/24/12) |
In March 2012, the courtship began. We noticed that the unbanded Scrub-Jay would offer a seed to the banded one, beak-to-beak, resembling a kiss (photo #2). This is part of the males mating ritual, the female does not feed the male.
They built a nest, Mom laid eggs, Mom and Dad both incubate the eggs, and on May 10th 2012 we had four baby Scrub-Jays bouncing around our backyard.
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| Photo #3 - Baby Scrub-Jays (5/13/12) |
Researchers say that Scrub-Jays will hatch their eggs in 17 days, and the young will fledge (leave the nest) in another 17 days. If that is true, the fledglings in photo #3 are about three weeks old and have been out of the nest at least three days.
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| Photo #4 - Two of the babies begging Dad for food. (5/19/12) |
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| Photo #5 - Mom is close by. (5/21/12) |
Everywhere Mom and Dad go, the babies follow. The babies are inseparable. In photos where you see less than four babies, the others are close by.
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| Photo #6 - A teachable moment. (5/22/12) |
Training day. Dad shows one of the babies how to bathe. We love the baby's expression and body language in this photo.
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| Photo #7 - Playtime at the feeder. (5/28/12) |
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| Photo #8 - Enjoying a leaf bath. (6/4/12) |
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| Photo #9 - Trying to figure out how to remove peanuts from the ring. (6/4/12) |
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| Photo #10 - Mom (far right) and three of the babies. (6/15/12) |
Every day for the next three months Mom and Dad brought the babies to the yard. When the babies were not begging for food and attention, they were busy learning life. We have over a dozen feeders in our yard, and the babies explored all of them as if they were playground equipment. One of our favorite things to do during their visits was to spray a misty stream of water onto the shrubs and small trees with the garden hose. The babies loved it, taking turns diving into the spray and taking leaf baths. They would vocalize with beautiful Scrub-Jay squawks and chatter, as if they were laughing. Usually, either Mom or Dad joined in, the other keeping watch for predators from a high perch.
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| Photo #11 - Mom in the middle, surrounded by all four babies. (8/17/12) |
By mid-August, the babies had grown into immature Scrub-Jays. Their gray feathers gradually became a stunning Azure Blue. In this photo the babies are almost four months old with only a few gray feathers visible. Soon after this photo was taken, when the "family" visited the yard, only Mom could be identified, because of her bands. By November, the daily visits turned into 2 or 3 visits per week and sometimes not all the Scrub-Jays were seen. The last time we saw the entire family (all 6) together was on March 1st, 2013.
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| Photo #12 - Two of the babies.....all grown up. (3/17/13) |
In photo #12, here are two of the babies, all grown up. They are around 11 months old. Compare this photo with the peanut ring photo (photo #9) above.
Now, they are on their own. Usually one will stay with Mom and Dad as a "helper" to assist them with the next brood. Mom and Dad had no babies (that we know of) in 2013 or 2014, and had only one this year (2015).
The Florida Scrub-Jay is "endemic" to Florida. Meaning, Florida is the only place on earth where they can be found. Since the 1950s, the Scrub-Jay population and habitat has decreased dramatically. Suitable scrub habitat has been cleared away, making room for citrus groves and housing developments. As a result, the species is classified as "Vulnerable to Extinction". But they continue to thrive in our backyard, and we are truly blessed and excited to have them here.
The Florida Scrub-Jay has more personality than any songbird we have ever seen. Their behavior can best be described as "entertaining". While other songbirds live their lives doing the same things day-in and day-out, Scrub-Jays actually appear to enjoy it. We hope you enjoy the story of our backyard family, our "spark bird", the beautiful and fun Florida Scrub-Jay.....tweet.....tweet!!
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