Baby Blue Jay bird out of the nest

Yesterday I found this baby Blue Jay out of its nest.  It was within 10 feet of me while I sat on the deck and read after dinner.  The parents were not seen for a long time.  Eventually, when the parents flew by, the baby called for them.  The parents did find the baby Blue Jay and were swooping to the baby then leaving.  I assume they were feeding the baby Blue Jay as if it were in the nest.  If I could find the Blue Jay nest I would have just picked up the bird and dumped it back in as I have done with other baby birds.  I did not know if the bird would survive the night.

The Baby Blue Jay looked very wobbly on this little branch and eventually hopped up the tree to a more secure "Y" in the branches to spend the night.

I came out this morning and the Baby Blue Jay Bird survived!  Both parents were very active swooping by to visit the baby.  I could not see if they were feeding.  I was surprised that the parents did not immediately enter into the famous Blue Jay Mobbing behavior when I went onto the deck this morning.  If you have ever seen this mobbing behavior, you will remember it.  All Blue Jay birds in the vicinity start screeching and swooping and attacking.  Usually this is targeted at their natural predators such as cats or squirrels.

Male and Female Blue Jays are visually identical and can only be identified as the mom or the dad by their behaviors.  As humans continue to expand in North America, so does the Blue Jay.  Blue Jays live in human created habitat.  The tragic result of this expansion of Blue Jay territory is that they will eat eggs and hatchlings of North American Song birds.  As the song birds are losing their habitat, they also have the brash Blue Jay assisting in their demise