Me too!
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He also wrote Ravens in Winter.
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Canada Jay was probably the most exciting for me to see. I only saw them on a trip to Mt. St. Helens, but they were super cooperative and incredibly fun to watch. I really like the corvids as a family. Magpies are really charismatic too. I have memories seeing Blue Jays for the first time when I went to Texas, trying to get a good photo. It’s really hard to pick a favorite in this family honestly.
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Yes it is. I remember the first time I saw Magpie Jays, down in San Diego near the International Border. I thought, “wow – they really do look exactly like magpies and exactly like blue jays, at the same time!” Still, if I was to pick a favorite, I would agree with isopodguy:
In fact, this thread inspired me to do an identifying session of Steller’s Jay observations. Most of the older ones still at Needs ID were isolated feathers or audio recordings, but I was still able to verify many of those – when I first started Grinnell journaling, I made a point of learning as many of their vocalizations as I could. Plus I learned something new: there was an observation in Mexico where I was about to disagree, because it had no crest; but when I went to articles about the species, looking for the right Spanish words to explain my reasoning – it turns out that “Ridgway’s” Steller’s Jay has no crest??
The Steller’s Jays I know best are the Pacific Northwest form (nominate stelleri). Some sources refer to Steller’s Jay as an acorn specialist; but in the Puget Sound country and even more so on the Olympic Peninsula, oak savannas are a scarce habitat, whereas Steller’s Jays are common in the coniferous forest where beaked hazelnut is a common understory shrub. I have found piles of hazelnut shells, neatly split in half, under favorite feeding perches. I have also seen them reaching into the sheaths and pulling out the nuts right off the bush.
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Goodness, could anyone really do such a thing? Pica are a flash of colour in a dreary winter, rooks have fabulous trousers, jackdaws have eyes any nordic would be envious of, crows are ubiquitous, Cyanopica are devilishly handsome with lovely familial habits, Garrulus are gaudy yet endearing, and ravens are whimsical. How could one decide!
Personally I am very fond of Corvus albus because of the many pleasurable lunch breaks I spent watching a family being raised and fledging, and another group that became familiar with me on a regular walking route, and then swooped down to investigate me once again post-lockdown.
At some point I would very much like to watch some of the more flashy Jays in North America.
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My favorite is the Common Raven, even though I don’t get to see them much because I live in the suburbs. Love their noises and they are fun to watch. Second place is the American Crow. I have them in my neighborhood and started carrying peanuts in the shell on my daily walks. They have figured out that I always carry them and also that I don’t toss them out unless I see crows. So now they have a habit of flying through my line of sight to announce their presence. In one case a crow flew directly at me and veered away to land in someone’s yard when it was only about 3 feet away. (Gave me rather pointed looks from 20 feet away in the yard. It must have been trying to get my attention for a while.) Very entertaining birds!
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I like fish crows a lot because of how funny they sound. It’s entertaining to try and mimic them and have conversations.
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I do agree with you they do have funny calls. I have listened to them on the Cornell lab of ornithology website. I personally haven’t got to see any in person.
Hopefully I will be able to see some someday.
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I like them, too.
Until I read that they supposedly say “Cow! Cow!” (instead of “Caw! Caw!” like their “American” counterparts), I used to think they were saying “Quark? quark?”
Comes from living with too many physicists, I suppose.
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