Yellowhouse Sam # 25171 Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Haven't seen a bluejay at the bird feeder nor at my deer feeder 40 mi nw in probably 4-5 months. Plus I don't see any while driving down the road. Not that I miss the blue bandits all that much but this is a first in the 20 years I've been here. Noticeably fewer crows too. I'm not hearing any reports of west nile in humans here but evidently members of the crow family which includes jays are more susceptible to this mosquito borne disease than other birds. You guys up north and south of Atoka County, OK seeing any? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 All them birds is committing suicide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowhouse Sam # 25171 Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 Aw badger those are all hysterical groupies.....the jays do it in private. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spanish Bit Bobb Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 perhaps they flew south. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad Hand Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Looking out my window, I've got one on my feeder, and one sitting on the fence, I'm down by San Antonio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. James H. Callahan Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 We have TONS of 'em round my casa east of Abilene. Want me to trap some of noisy rascals and send 'em to ya? JHC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 That happened here in New Hampshire about 5 years ago. Blue Jays migrate about 2 to 300 miles for the winter/summer change so the ones we have in the winter are not the same ones we have in the summer. Sometimes they skip whole areas and then when the sun comes back it all averages out again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowhouse Sam # 25171 Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 Nope, don't need any imports from Abilene way. Sure there will be pockets here and there....more interested in what others are observing in the immediate region. Although I'm fairly certain of post nesting dispersal behavior I've never observed a complete or seemingly so disappearance of jays. And in New Hampshire no doubt they get the hell out of Dodge. We don't stay that cold here and there should be a dozen out there hogging sunflower seed right now and not one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pit Bull Tex Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 We have lots of them here in Baytown,Texas east of Houston.Got way to many of them furry little tree rats also,want some? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulp, SASS#28319 Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Now that you mention it, I haven't seen many around here either. I haven't really been looking, but I usually notice what birds fly up when I drive into the driveway, and are around in the trees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Sam, maybe Henry the Chicken Hawk is in town and he has turned professional gun fighter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowhouse Sam # 25171 Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 Got plenty of tree rats! There were 8 grey and one fox squirrel at the feeder this morning. Thats something else thats strange....used to it was the other way around and hardly saw any greys. Pulp, its been months and I mean months since I saw one. I don't think there was a migration event but it is puzzling why the sudden scarcity when its never occurred before. We're having about the same winter temps as usual and last year the blue bandits ate half the corn put out for deer....didn't see a one this year. Henry the Chicken Hawk would starve if he had to depend on jays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 We got lots of up here in NW AR . Have some of them that almost as big as crows . I think Bro. Hawk is gettin a few of them and the tree rats too . Got a pair of Red tails and a pair of Coppers that hang around here . CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowhouse Sam # 25171 Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 We got lots of up here in NW AR . Have some of them that almost as big as crows . I think Bro. Hawk is gettin a few of them and the tree rats too . Got a pair of Red tails and a pair of Coppers that hang around here . CB You're too close to the Kansas line Bill, those are Jayhawks! OK, since that is some 160 or more miles NE of here and you have a typical population for this time of year, it suggests we have some local and unexplained phenomena going on. Disease....who knows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneaky Gun Runner SASS 79775 Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Sam, We seem to have fewer than normal here in OKC, but we still have some. Oh the flip side I have never seen so many cardinals as I have this winter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowhouse Sam # 25171 Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 Hmm.looks like SE Oklahoma is the area affected. Fewer jays to compete for food and rob nests maybe = more cardinals maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noz Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Aw badger those are all hysterical groupies.....the jays do it in private. West Nile hit the Missouri Blue Jays 3 years ago. It's a pleasure now to see one of them. Not many around yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheriff Oso, SASS #57788L Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Down in South Arlington, we have an unusually LARGE murder of crows hanging around the environs these days (easily over a hunnert!). As for Jays, I haven't noticed any. Plenty of wrens and cardinals, tho! FWIW..YMMV..SOso Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowhouse Sam # 25171 Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 West nile in Missouri huh, well that fits into what is happening here. Might know it'd happen cause after writting I'd not seen one on months when two of the Blue Bandits dropped in at the feeder. Well, thats better than the usual dozen or more that bully all the others....except woodpeckers...they don't mess with them for obvious reasons. Lots of songbirds in Arlington! Well, I've seen quite a few in the older more grown areas like Richardson but I'd bout decided that the new state bird of Texas ought to be grackles with starlings a close second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.