How I
Met Snickers
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It all started a couple of years
ago. I
would sometimes eat lunch in my car (in a business park
where I work).
One day I tossed a piece of bread to a “blue jay”,
or so I thought that’s what it was.
I knew little about birds at the time.
These “blue jays” would eagerly take the pieces of bread I
tossed them. When spring rolled around I
started doing this more often.
One day I thought “I wonder how close they will
come to my car”.
Little did I know where this thought would lead.
I eventually noticed there was one particular "blue jay"
that seemed to show up regularly around my car.
So, I started tossing the pieces of bread closer
and closer to my car.
Getting used to this, I decided to see if he would
land on top of the car.
I opened the moon roof, placed a piece of bread on
the roof and then closed the moon roof.
Sure enough, he would land on top of my car and take the
bread. It was
about this time that I did some research and learned these
were Scrub Jays. I am also convinced that Snickers is a
male. Snickers has a mate and I have seen him give
food to her on numerous occasions. In addition,
Snickers is larger and prettier than his mate.
Eventually I would place a piece of bread on top of my car
and place my hand very close to the bread. Once he got
used to this, I tried holding the piece of bread.
When he finally took the piece of bread from my
fingers, I knew I had finally made “first contact”.
This one bold Scrub Jay needed a name, so Snickers was
chosen.
About the time of “first contact”, I discovered their
fondness for peanuts.
Peanuts seem to have a huge visual attraction for
Jays.
Currently I also feed Snickers hulled sunflower seeds, raw
corn, and cashews.
I then started placing
the peanuts on different parts of the car - door, mirror,
etc. At one
point Snickers was even willing to drop down into the
passenger seat for a peanut.
However, on a couple of occasions she became
disoriented after taking the peanut and flew onto the dash
and became wedged between the front windshield and dash.
He started squawking as though he might be
panicking. I
held a peanut to the side window and he got the idea and
flew out (taking the peanut on the way).
Since birds seem to become easily disoriented in
enclosed spaces, I gave up on that.
Once Snickers was used to the car, I moved outside and
started placing peanuts on my hand or shoulder. Snickers always got the idea and would
swoop down and take the peanut.
If I used a whole peanut he would take it without
stopping. If
I want Snickers to land in my hand and stay a few seconds
then I use small pieces of cashews broken in half.
This instinctively causes Snickers to stay on my
hand and spend time sorting out the pieces of nuts she
wants.
Scrub Jays are non migratory and
Snickers will stay around all winter.
I do not know how old Snickers is, but research
shows they can live in excess of 10 years.
Update - Snickers has been missing since March of
2001. About the same month, another Scrub Jay
(later named Skippy) showed up. Skippy was very easy
to hand tame.
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