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May 2008

VTBIRD@LIST.UVM.EDU

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Subject:
From:
Jane Stein <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Vermont Birds <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 9 May 2008 11:25:39 -0400
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I've not seen any newly fledged birds yet, including Bluejays, 
and they're pretty hard to miss, especially the food begging noise!

In the case of my two confused birds, misplaced courtship seems 
to me more likely what was going on with the Bluejay, and one 
can't blame the Bluejay for not recognizing that the woodpecker 
it was displaying to was a female, nor the woodpecker for 
mistaking courtship begging for fledgling begging, I guess.

Still, very peculiar.

Jane
Shoreham



June Schulte wrote:
> Has anyone seen newly fledged birds yet?
> 
> I sent Jane's question about the Bluejay being fed suet by a Downy 
> Woodpecker to
> my son who is a wildlife biologist, and below is his take on it.   ~ 
> June in Jericho
> 
> 
> 
> My guess is that this is a recently fledged blue jay and the downy 
> woodpecker has young back in the nest. The blue jay is begging to 
> anything it sees that has food and the downy woodpecker's feeding 
> response is triggered by the behavior since it is geared up to feed 
> babies at the moment. Birds are usually triggered to feed their young by 
> the begging sound and the sight of the bright yellow/orange/red lining 
> of the mouth of young birds. I guess this is just one overstimulated 
> woodpecker. Pretty funny.  The only other option is that female blue 
> jays will display like that to males as part of the courtship display, 
> but I doubt one would do that to a woodpecker!
> 
> 

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