Bluejays are one of the most recognizable songbirds in nature. Central and Eastern parts of North America and southern Canada are places where you can find them. Most surprisingly, male and female Blue Jays look exactly the same. It’s customary for male birds to be a bit more colorful and flashier than female birds in the bird world. This is because males to catch the attention of the female bird; this is called sexual dimorphism.
But this rule doesn’t apply for Blue Jays. But the males are typically a bit larger than females. Their courting and mating behaviors make it obvious, which is which. They usually are in groups of three to ten birds. There is a single female blue jay who basically judges the males to pick which one is most suitable within these groups. It’s the creation of the nature of The Bachelorette. When the female bird flies, the males all follow, and when she lands, males do the same.
Blue Jays are not really blue.
It seems to be like our eyes are playing tricks on us. Most birds like Cardinals, have colored feathers due to pigment. For example, if you were to crush a Cardinal’s feather into powder, it would be red.
And when you do the same to a Blue Jay’s feather, it would be brown.
Light scattering which is a neat little trick in nature is used by Blue Jays.
All the colors pass right through them, except for blue, when visible light strikes their feathers.
So, the blue is reflected, and then we see blue.
You could test this by getting a blue jay feather and wet it. It will turn brown since you’re interfering with the mechanism within the feather that reflects light.
Depending on the way you look at them, Blue Jays can also be bullies. It’s not uncommon for these birds to gather in groups and take over bird feeders, driving anything that’s not a blue jay away.
This pack mentality helps keep them safe as a band Blue Jays can drive off larger animals such as cats, hawks, raccoons, squirrels, and many other animals.
These birds can make for some pretty tough gangs; they’ve even been known to dive at humans who got close to their turf.
The video below will help you to learn more about these amazing birds.