A Steller's Jay and a Peanut. Saving for the future in Summerhaven.

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Steller's Jays are corvids living in evergreen forests of western North America, all the way from Alaska south into Mexico and Central America. They are regulars up on Mt. Lemmon ​where they forage for just about everything including insects, seeds, berries, as well as small animals, other bird's eggs, and even nestlings.  Oh, and don't forget garbage, unguarded picnic items and feeder fare, including peanuts. 

The images above and below were captured in Summerhaven in September 2017.  The dramatic head markings and wing coloration do make them "stellar", however they are in fact named after Georg Steller, a German naturalist on a Russian explorer's ship, who discovered them in Alaska in 1741.  He also discovered the Steller's Sea Lion and Steller's Sea-Eagle.  For more details, see the Cornell website. 

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Speaking of peanuts,  Steller's Jays love them!  Below is an image captured in July 2018 of a jay grabbing a peanut in the shell off of our deck railing. 

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I had my Canon 7D II with a Canon 100-400 mm IS II on a tripod and gimbal mount on the deck that morning, scanning for bird activity.   Shortly after capturing the shot above, I noticed that the jay was rummaging around two stories below and 90 degrees to my left in pine needles.  I swivelled over and hit the shutter, not being sure what I was capturing.  I all honesty, it was not until I got the images on the computer in Lightroom that I realized what this Jay was up to. 

Below we see the Steller's Jay with his peanut on top of the pine needles. 

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He looks around, finds a spot he likes, and shoves the peanut into the ground.  The monsoon was well underway, so the underlying soil was damp and soft. 

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With the peanut tucked away, he looks up to see if anyone is watching, then looks back down to his buried treasure, and forcibly shoves his bill down the hole.  Note that at 1/500 second there was head blur on the image although his legs were sharp. 

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Having driven his peanut deeper, he looks up, then around to his right, and back toward what looks like a rock. 

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Yup, it's a rock.  He grabs it with his bill, turns back to the left and carefully places it on top of the hole, and sits back to admire his work.  This rock was not small, especially for a bird. 

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Having secured his food, he hops to an adjacent rock, and looks for his next find. 

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Jays are members of the corvid family, well known for their smarts.   Jays in particular are known for their ability to store food items  in various locations, and remember what they stored and where they stored them,  They will go back for perishable items soon, and leave the non-perishables for a future meal.  This demonstrates Episodic Memory, the ability to recall specific past events including what happened where and when.  

For more on "bird brains" and how advanced they are, see the wonderful book by Jennifer Ackerman, The Genius of Birds. 

​That's all for now! 
Happy trails! 

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