Do you want to learn about an amazing bird that you can go out and observe? I have had the good fortune of seeing the marvelous Florida Scrub Jay (aphelocoma coerulescens) at many locations, including The Archbold Biological Station and Oscar Scherer State Park.
What is the bird’s color pattern? Dull blue overall with a whitish forehead and a pale gray back and belly. Juveniles are grayer overall than adults and lack the adult’s blue head.
The Florida Scrub Jay has fascinating and entertaining behaviors. The bird hops on the ground or in trees and shrubs to pick insects and harvest acorns, which it buries in the ground to eat later. It often perches vertically on wires or exposed branches with its long tail hanging down.
Where can you find this wonderful bird?
Florida Scrub-Jays are restricted to low-growing (less than 6.5 feet tall) oak scrub and scrubby flatwoods found in sand ridges only in Florida. Within these patches of oak scrub, they frequent relatively open areas and bare sandy patches. Species within this community include myrtle oak, Archbold oak, sand live oak, Chapman oak, runner oak, rusty lyonia, Florida rosemary, and at least 18 endangered or threatened plants. In the absence of lightning-ignited, low-intensity fires (which used to be very common in Florida) the oak-scrub community becomes too dense and tall to support Florida Scrub-Jays.
Where do they go when they hear their stomach grumbling? Florida Scrub-Jays hop along the ground between shrubs looking for insects, acorns, berries, and small vertebrates such as snakes, mice, and lizards. They also eat peanuts provided by people. They eat small insects and berries whole but carry larger prey in their bill to a perch where they proceed to pick it apart.
Florida Scrub-Jays hold acorns in their feet, hammering them apart with their chisel-like bill. When they’ve had their fill of acorns, they hammer them into the sandy soil or stuff them into palm fronds or moss to eat later in the year. They often place a leaf or twig over the area, perhaps to help them remember where they buried it. Throughout the year, they also dig up and recache the acorns perhaps to check on the condition of the acorn or to help them remember the location. A single Florida Scrub-Jay may cache between 6,500 and 8,000 acorns each fall.
Florida Scrub-Jays nest at the edge of a clump of low shrubs. They tend to place the nest in sand live oak trees under dense greenbrier vines or dense clumps of leaves about 3 feet above the ground. Males and females form permanent monogamous bonds that are reinforced by mate feeding, especially during the nesting season. When the nesting spirit enters, males and females collect twigs from oaks and fibers from saw palmetto and cabbage palm. Oak twigs make up the outer basket of the nest and smaller twigs and palm fibers make up the inner basket. Both sexes help build the nest, but the female spends more time shaping the cup.
The Florida Scrub-Jay is a declining species with an estimated global breeding population of 4,000 individuals according to Partners in Flight. They are a Red Watch List species with a Continental Concern Score of 20 out of 20. Primary threats include habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation due to Florida’s heavy urban, suburban, and agricultural development; and fire suppression.
The annual Florida Scrub-Jay Festival travels around the state to different important scrub areas each year.
Reference
The Cornell Lab/All About Birds
Although there are many other scrubs and other jays, where can you find this one-of-a-kind flying wonder—the Florida Scrub Jay?
Get out into The Great Florida Outdoors!
I see more and more young people not getting outdoors, glued to their phones and other devices. I write them an Rx for Vitamin N—Nature—and hopefully they get out to see our amazing outdoors!
Dr. Norman is an advanced master naturalist graduate of the FMNP program from UF and a board-certified dermatologist based in Tampa and Riverview. He can be reached at 813-880-7546.
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