Camp Robbers

One of our year-round birds is the Gray Jay, also known as a Camp Robber.  They are not at all shy, and love it when I put out my peanut butter suet mix.  They can greedily clean out a feeder in a very short while, taking away all the goodies to stash for later.  

I am linking with Gaelyn's Foto Friday Fun #98 with the photo below,

my Index No. 6545, taken in August of 2011.

And a few more photos of the Gray Jays taken around that same time, showing them enjoying my soup kitchen.

I'm also linking with Eileen's Saturday's Critters.

Camp Robbers

If the weather forecast for the weekend is right, we're due to get several inches of snow.  With the temperature dropping, it looks like the beginning of the winter's snowpack and no more green grass until sometime in April.  We've been having Gray Jays and Chickadees at our feeders, so I mixed up some peanut butter mix and stuffed it in my suet feeder.  It took the Jays about 10 minutes to clean it out.  They're a greedy bird and come by their nickname of Camp Robber quite honestly.  I'll ration the peanut butter mix and let them make do with the commercial suet mix for a day or two.  I took most of the photos through the window, so there's a bit of reflection visible.

  

Hey, we're going to need a refill here!

I'm linking up with Eileen's Saturday's Critters.

Soon our landscape will look like the photo below.

It's my entry for Gaelyn's Foto Friday Fun 79, with Index No. 8888.

December 25, 2012

My Winter Birds: Gray Jays

Another bird that sticks around all winter is the Gray Jay.  They like the suet, especially when it has peanut butter in it.  They really are quite greedy, and we have been working on ways to keep them from flying off with huge chunks of suet at one time.  They can clean out a feeder quite rapidly!

They are quite friendly and don't mind posing for their photos at all.  However, they come and go so quickly that I have a hard time catching them in flight.  I missed the leading edge here.  If only I had not zoomed in quite so closely.....

Cruisin'

Sunday the sun was shining and we had an errand to run at Lowes, so we decided to take advantage of the sunny day and take the T-Bird on the last cruise for the year.  Click on the collages for a better view.

After we got what we needed at Lowes, we were after some frozen custard, but unfortunately the stand was closed.  So we drove down Farmer's Loop road, and stopped and took a few photos of the old barn that sits along the side of the road.  I've posted about it before HERE.

Then we drove up in the hills near where we used to live for a view down over the valley and the town.

We headed for home, stopping at the Muskox Farm on the way.  It's not easy to get photos of the muskox because of the series of fences surrounding the muskox, but an animal this size does require sturdy fencing to keep it in.  The white shadow lines running through the photos are the wires of the fencing.  Click HERE to read previous posts.

Our next stop was at the UA Experimental Farm to see the reindeer.  Click HERE and HERE and HERE for previous posts.

Down the hill from the farm are fields belonging to the University.  There have been a lot of Sandhill Cranes feeding in the field over the last few weeks, but they have gone south now.  There were also some Canada Geese in the fields.  The collage below also has some Gray Jays that we saw up at the Muskox Farm.

Then we were back home, and the T-Bird will soon be put in the back of Marty's shop with a cover over it until next spring. It's definitely not a cool weather car!

Portrait of a Gray Jay

You want to do what?  Okay, but I'm not going to hang around long.
 

I'm only doing this so you'll put out some more of that tasty peanut butter, and could you throw in a few more of the grapes, please? 

A few shots from the other side, perhaps?

Okay, one more quick one, and then I'm outta here.

Catching the Flight of the Gray Jay

One of my projects this winter has been to catch a photo of the Gray Jays in flight. The first photo I took last month. I liked the sunlight shining through the wing feathers, but I still need to do better.They have proven to be a challenge for me. They are sitting still on a feeder, and then they are in fast flight mode heading for the trees. The same thing happens when they swoop in to the feeders. They come very fast, and even using automatic focus they are at the feeder before I can even get the camera into position. A couple of days ago I got one that is a bit better.

Yesterday I got another as a Jay flew away with a chunk of suet.

It seems to me that since I am providing them with such nice tidbits the least they could do is be cooperative. They do cooperate for still photos and will sit for a short space of time with a piece of the suet in their beaks. I'm not sure if that's a "thank you" or more of a "nana nana nah nah" pose.

Yesterday was a sunny day and about 10 degrees so I was able to be out on the deck a bit. That helped get some clearer shots. I caught a flight away from the feeder with a chunk of suet in the beak.

I think that's the best I've done so far, but I still need to keep trying. Every day we are having longer hours of daylight so I'll have more chances.

You're Going Where?

What do you mean, you're flying south? Who is going to feed us? We need peanut butter! We need nuts! I hope you have made arrangements! Much against the Gray Jay's protest, we are heading to Seattle for a visit. As this is posted, we are in the air and on our way. We'll be gone for 10 days, but I plan to post some photos from the Pacific Northwest. I will probably not have a lot of time for blog reading, but I'll catch up when we get home. Now I only hope that we won't see snow while we're there!

Don't Feel Sorry For The Camp Robber

Some of you may have felt sorry for the Gray Jay in the last post. Don't! The only thing in the feeders that was all gone was the peanut butter/suet mix that I make up. There was still plenty of sunflowers, sunflower chips, thistle seed, etc. The pair of Gray Jays, called Camp Robbers by many people, are very partial to the peanut butter/suet mix and gobble it down quickly.

They like to take huge pieces of it at a time.

Then they head for the woods to stash it for when it's cold.

Many trips back and forth are made to get as much as they can.

Is this the picture of greed or what?

The little Chickadees also like the peanut butter and suet, and fortunately they had a bit of time at the feeders before the Jays showed up. The photo below was taken less than a minute after the Jay had grabbed the big glob of suet. "I know it was there just a minute ago....."

I'll leave you with the image of one of the Jays attacking the suet feeder. He looks quite ferocious, but he was flapping his wings to keep his balance while grabbing the suet. The photo is a bit out of focus, but I like the action, and the bit of tongue that you can see.

Several people have commented that the Blue Jays are very skittish. Not so the Gary Jay. I took several photos while I was less than 10 feet away from one, and while I was out filling the feeders one popped down within a few feet of me as if checking out what provisions I was laying out. They are very entertaining to watch, and I guess the cost of admission in the form of peanut butter and suet is well worth it.

Where's the Grub?

The Gray Jays spent the last few days cleaning out the peanut butter/suet mix in the suet feeders. Today we had about three inches of new snow, and since I had not put new suet out Mr. Jay spent some time rooting through the snow on the tray feeder where I sometimes put some suet crumbles. He gave it up as a bad job, but not before giving me a dirty look through the window. I suppose I'd better tend to those feeders in the morning!

I'll Have More Peanut Butter, Please!

Over the last several days my feeders have been visited by a pair of Gray Jays. Gray Jays are found in Canada, Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and the Rocky Mountains. There are variations in color in the different areas and here we have the Taiga population.

Around Fairbanks they are more commonly called a Camp-Robber.

They will stash food in the trees for the winter, and they have been very busy doing just that.

Their favorite treat at my feeders seems to be the peanut butter mixture I put out. When that runs out they will settle for the commercial suet.

The peanut butter mixture has been going in the top two holes on my suet feeder. You might have noticed that those two holes are pretty well cleaned out in all the photos. These photos are from the last three days, and every day I have refilled those two holes with a mixture of peanut butter, oatmeal, cornmeal, shortening, and dried fruit. The Chickadees have gotten a few little bites, but the Jays have cleaned out the peanut butter mixture pretty thoroughly.

Their acrobatics while going after the food is quite entertaining.

I perhaps will need to buy peanut butter in the gallon container.....