July 10 Blue Jay Fluff

I was teaching a class on insects today at the Nature Center when my class found this deceased blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) on the path in a forest of maple, ash, and basswood. It must have been a very recent death because the jay still has all of its meat and there was a reported coyote sighting here just a few days ago. However, there were already a mouthful of maggots shifting around morbidly in this bird's beak. Perhaps it died of an illness or infection. I have tried to take many pictures of blue jays and usually they fly far away as soon as they know I am watching them. As members of the Corvid family they are intelligent birds and will cache a variety of nuts, especially their favorite acorns, in tree cracks and crevices. They have a wide variety of vocalizations, including their mating call which sounds like a water pump handle moving up and down. They are also excellent at mimicking other birds and will flock up for spring and fall migrations. We hear blue jays at the Nature Center year round and their noisy chatter is a warm sound on a dark January afternoon.