Forum Index > Trail Talk > ever wonder about those camp robbers?
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lookout bob
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lookout bob
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PostSat Jan 25, 2020 8:44 am 
https://www.birdnote.org/show/canada-jays-save-food-later Bird Note is a worthy site to frequently visit. I really like the facts and videos. cool.gif cool.gif

"Altitude is its own reward" John Jerome ( from "On Mountains")
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gb
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PostSat Jan 25, 2020 12:21 pm 
Pretty cool, Bob. My friend who lives at Alpental feeds a group at her house every day. They apparently show up at 7:30 sharp and line-up, taking turns to reach the food she puts out. My appreciating them doesn't mean that I won't guard a sandwich as I am eating it. A pretty fun thing to do is put a bit of food on top of a wool hat on the head. It feels pretty crazy as they land - try to keep from laughing....

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reststep
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PostSat Jan 25, 2020 12:50 pm 
Thanks for the link. So is Canada Jay the official name now?

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Chief Joseph
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PostSat Jan 25, 2020 4:22 pm 
So the link is an article about Gray Jays..am I correct to assume that Blue Jays also cache their food? My Mom and I feed the grays and blues...I think it's funny how they squawk loudly, essentially demanding food? Like a hungry baby crying..

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostSat Jan 25, 2020 7:57 pm 
reststep wrote:
Thanks for the link. So is Canada Jay the official name now?
Yes, change was made recently. Apparently that name predates gray jay. But whiskey jack predates Canada jay, it's a bastardization of a Native name for them. I'm continuing to go w/ gray jay or camp robber. Name changes of birds is annoying (I'm still not on board w/ spotted towhee).

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Tom
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PostSat Jan 25, 2020 8:48 pm 
You can call me Ray or you can call me Jay...

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gb
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PostSun Jan 26, 2020 7:27 am 
Smarter than the average bird: Studies on how Jays and Nutcrackers store and recover food How they do this?

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cdestroyer
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PostTue Jan 28, 2020 4:34 pm 
I feed magpies here and have watched them cache food around the yard. I have never seen one retrieve the cache.

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Backpacker Joe
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PostTue Jan 28, 2020 5:27 pm 
And they taste pretty good too. hockeygrin.gif

"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln
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DigitalJanitor
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PostTue Jan 28, 2020 6:02 pm 
reststep wrote:
So is Canada Jay the official name now?
They'll always be camp robbers to me! hockeygrin.gif Dad has stories from logging with my grandpa of them making off with sandwiches etc. My most interesting story was just that I was feeding one bits of dried apricot out of my hand once years ago and one landed, ate the apricot piece, and yelled at me until I offered it a second piece and THEN it flew off my hand, lol.

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Anne Elk
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PostFri Jan 31, 2020 11:10 pm 
When I lived in the Canadian Rockies, I never heard them referred to as anything other than "whiskey jacks". Definitely the avian Yogi Bear of the back-country; the only critter that ever broke into my tree-hanging food sack (back in the days when that's what you did). They did a number on the cheddar cheese. The racket they made woke me up. biggrin.gif

"There are yahoos out there. It’s why we can’t have nice things." - Tom Mahood
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Jack's Mom
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PostTue Feb 04, 2020 2:32 pm 
Last summer we were feeding the Camp Robbers when someone scolded us - that we were encouraging the birds to become aggressive, couldn't believe it !

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Ski
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PostTue Feb 04, 2020 3:15 pm 
Well... whether you believe it or not, it does happen. Used to be a huge problem on the Mather Memorial Parkway (Hwy 410) between Deadwood Creek and Ghost Lake, where tourists would stop to snap photos of Rainier and start feeding the jays that swooped down begging for hand-outs. The Park Service started issuing citations and fining the tourists and (for the most part) put a stop to the feeding.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Jack's Mom
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PostWed Feb 05, 2020 6:55 am 
Did not know that - thanks for the info.

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Ski
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PostWed Feb 05, 2020 1:41 pm 
The larger issue, of course, is that wild animals will become dependent on humans as a food source, and will "hang out" all day long on the side of the road waiting for hand-outs, as opposed to foraging in the wild. That is the primary reason the Park Service at MRNP started citing tourists up there on that stretch of highway. For a very convincing example, drive very slowly around "Five Mile Drive" at Pt. Defiance Park. Do three or four loops. You will see raccoons hanging out on the side of the road in several places, waiting patiently for some tidbit to come out a car window. In the small housing development just outside the Nisqually Gate at Mt. Rainier National Park, there is a small herd of resident deer. They will walk right up to cars just outside the gate for a handful of potato chips or crackers. Some of them will eat apple slices right out of your hand. They have very strange striations on the roofs of their mouths. If you want wild animals, it's best to keep them wild.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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