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Come back to this page each day to read another entry from Frederick R. Gehlbach's almanac of suburban natural and unnatural history, "Messages from the Wild," which chronicles the world of a forested ravine in central Texas.
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At dawn five blue jays harass two late, migrating chuck-willswidows, probably because chucks sometimes eat small birds. It's the wrong season for baby jays, but the mobbers remember, just as they remember to sound alarm at empty screech-owl nest holes. Afterwards, while drinking at the birdbath, the jays mimic white-eyed vireos and American crows. Vireos? They're no threat! And crow calls? Jays know their sister species also eats birds and mobs predators such as hawks, so they may be trying to discourage predation or perhaps competition at the water. But no wintering hawks have shown up, unless the jays know something I don't, which is quite likely. |
Frederick R. Gehlbach is Professor Emeritus of Biology and Environmental Studies at Baylor University. His ecological studies have taken him from New Zealand to Slovakia and, in the Americas, from Alaska and Newfoundland to Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. His research interests include the life-history strategies of small owls, small burrowing snakes and urban wildlife ecology.
From MESSAGES FROM THE WILD: AN ALMANAC OF SUBURBAN NATURAL AND UNNATURAL HISTORY by Frederick R. Gehlbach, Copyright © 2002. Courtesy of the University of Texas Press.
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