The Gang’s All Here
THE END OF SUMMER IS FORETOLD BY THE GREAT GATHERING
1001 WILDTHINGS #6
Have you noticed how bird behaviour in your gardens and nearby woodland and fields is changing at the moment? In spring, birds were loudly singing to attract mates and claim nesting territory, in summer all went quiet as parents raised their young and taught them how to be independent birds while trying not to attract the attention of predators. Now, as fall approaches, the world is getting noisy again out there.
There are many signs in the natural world that fall/autumn is approaching, well before the leaves in the forests change colour. The bright yellow of a stand of Golden Rod, buzzing with bees is one in particular that stands out, but for me, the signature signs are the late summer cries of flocks, some would say gangs, of noisy and boisterous birds – particularly Blue Jays. Hearing those familiar cries says summer is ending again. For my readers who are not on the North American continent and may not be familiar with the Blue Jay’s calls, you can find a collection of recordings of these birds at the following link. It is not melodious.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blue_Jay/sounds
Of course, we hear the calls of Blue Jays all year round, especially when you are walking through their territory. They will call out to each other and pass the “be careful” message to the forest dwellers. It is when they start to flock together in late August and September that we are really made aware of their presence, albeit the groups are not huge even if they are noisy. Blue Jays, like their relatives the Crows and Ravens, are Corvids and thereby share a couple of common behaviours that are typical of this group of species. Namely, they are all exceptionally intelligent birds and they exhibit strong family bonding . Earlier in the year they are busy nesting and raising young, success at which is aided by their being relatively quiet and careful about revealing their presence, as they have to protect their nests (while themselves raiding those of more vulnerable species). Once summer draws to a close, however, it is time again for groups to reform and perhaps share information about new food sources, the presence of predators, and to reform ties to relatives and friends. Simply being in groups is also a survival skill allowing them to join together to mob and chase away predators, anything from cats to hawks and certainly people like us who are happily out for a walk. Blue Jays are simply a highly social species.
Blue Jays are excellent mimics. To the frustration of birders, they will often mimic raptors such as Red-shouldered and Red-tailed hawks, and sometimes other species. Far too much of our time can be wasted seeking a “good" bird that was heard but was never actually there. This may be a signal to their flock of a potential threat – on the other hand, it is possible that they are doing this to scare other birds away from their food source. In a 2002 edition of Ontario Birds, it was theorized that young birds learn raptor calls during periods of high stress and excitement and after can reproduce them under those same conditions. Alternatively, they are not stupid. Like all Corvids, they can be surprisingly playful, and maybe sometimes they do it just for the fun of confusing the guy with binoculars standing under their tree. Just “‘avin a larf” at our expense, as the saying has it.
Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.
Harper Lee
According to Mark Twain …
“Blue Jays can speak, out-swear miners, have good grammar, and have a good sense of humour”.
Often, the social groupings that form centre around food. This is when trees carry seeds, acorns and other desirable and nutritious offerings. Jays will naturally flock to areas with high densities of food and call out to their friends and relatives that they’ve hit the jackpot … and so even more birds arrive. Certainly, in a garden like ours, which offers a plentiful supply of food, they will assemble to exploit it. For other species, some of the grouping is pre-migratory but only around 20% of Blue Jays do migrate and here we have them with us all winter … of course, that begs the question whether our summer birds might not be going southwards and are then replaced by more northerly birds arriving. It would be interesting to know that.
One thing that we often notice is that Blue Jays are rather cowardly. It’s strange, they are quite large and strong birds and certainly have big beaks that could be effectively wielded as a weapon if necessary, yet if other birds come to the garden feeders when they are on them then as often as not the Jays retreat to wait for them to leave and do not try to defend their food source. Common Grackles are equally, if not more likely to gather in groups at the feeders and the Jays will always leave them to it … given the comparable size of the Grackles that may make some sense, but they also leave when smaller birds like Woodpeckers and Cardinals arrive that they could easily see off. Epitomising the fact that discretion can be the better part of valour perhaps.
AND …
The Blue Jay gang are the most evident just now because of all the shouting, but they are not the only species that start to hang out in groups as summer ends. Common Grackles, of course, are making a nuisance of themselves before heading south for the winter while the European Starlings gather. Driving down the nearby highway yesterday around noon in the space of a couple of kilometres I saw four separate groups of European Starlings in the air … not enough for an impressive murmuration unless they all converge and share their resources but the gathering has begun.
Meanwhile, tired and weary Northern Cardinal parents have their second or sometimes third brood of youngsters still clamouring to be fed and in the last few days we have noticed similar gatherings of House Finches. The American Goldfinch are similarly eating from the seed heads, especially the thistle seeds, in considerable numbers.
Footnote:
Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here was an American popular song first published in 1917. The lyrics were put to a tune, "With Cat-Like Tread”, composed by Arthur Sullivan for the 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. Once you have spent a bit of time with a Blue Jay gang you will see how apposite the words are:
Hail, hail, the gang's all here.
What the heck do we care,
What the heck do we care?
One of the things I really like about sharing my posts on Substack, apart from the fact that it is technically clean and simple, is that it connects me to many other writers who have interesting things to say. Rather by chance, I happened upon the following article, and maybe you will like it too. It is titled We Are Not Alone – A reality check on a question that should never have been asked. Basically, the author asks why “we”, which is to say humans, are often blind to the other creatures that we share this planet with. That dovetails nicely with what my 1001 Species is about, when I am not writing about gardening that is. As Sherlock Holmes said - “We see, but we do not observe”.
Step outside and breathe among the forests, fields, mountains, or dunes as life ripples in the breeze.
Come back on Sunday - I expect to have some simple ideas for anyone interested in starting a pollinator/native plant/wildlife garden. Starting in a small way, nothing overwhelming.