I took this photo at our campsite last month and just now when I went to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site to verify my identification (Gray Jay), learned that Gray Jays are a thing of the past. In 2018, the American Ornithological Society voted to change the name from Gray Jay to Canada Jay.
What else did I learn?
“The Canada Jay stores large quantities of food for later use. It uses sticky saliva to glue small food items to tree branches above the height of the eventual snow line.”
Now that’s thinking ahead!
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What a beauty! And how enterprising, too. Here in the UK I have a sinking feeling that maybe we all should be taking a lesson from the Canada Jay before our Brexit winter arrives. (Though of course I am still hoping it won’t.)
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We’re living in very strange and challenging times, for sure. Thank goddesses for birds and other natural delights!
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