I know exactly when my fondness for wild birds began. Tt was around the time I acquired my 200mm telephoto lens. Up to that point in time, most of my camera lenses were for landscape, macro. The outing where I carried my 200mm attached to my camera and I snapped a photo of a small bird perched on a fence line - I was hooked and eventually over time I had acquired longer bird lenses well beyond that 200mm.
Blue Jay's are one of my favorite birds, they are active, smart, and boisterous they also understand human's attitudes toward them and learn routines such as the time you place bird food out, and they watch with a keen eye.
I have been feeding a group of about 15-20 Blue Jays for at least 10 years. The grouping as I call it grows and declines from time to time such as spring where the groups tend to be smaller and in pairs of course. During the winter months, the groups who visit my feeder can number up to 20+ Blue Jay's.
Observed Behavior Watching the Feeder: I commonly began a regular stocking of food for Blue Jays and other birds as winter approaches. I put out both shelled and whole peanuts and other seeds. While doing so I observe one or two Blue Jays watch me then swoop down an take a peanut or two and fly back up into the nearby tree. Shortly after that, the Pair fly off and return along with more Blue Jays in tow. It is as if they go and tell other Blue Jays where the food is, and within a day all 20 show up to enjoy the peanuts.
Routine Visiting Hours: All though there might be plenty of food in the feeder the Jays will disappear for hours. The Blue Jays will normally show up starting about an hour after sunrise and remain to feed for a couple of hours then fly off but return again shortly after Midday and disappear again until the mid-late afternoon. Thus their feeding routine appears to be three major sessions each day, occasionally one or two will show up out of the cycle but for the most part that is the routine, I observed. The exception to that is during poor weather be it cold, snowy, or rainy the Blue Jays tend to hang around all day.
Do Blue Jay's Mourn? My belief and observation say yes and here is why I think so. A group of Blue Jays was out behind my home taking turns with the feeder, and without warning a Cooper's Hawk swooped down and took a Blue Jay to the ground then began the de-feathering process ultimately eating the unlucky Blue Jay. ]The remaining birds scattered and did not return to the location the remainder of the day. The next morning about 19 Blue Jays appeared in the tree overlooking at the spot of the feathery remains. The Blue Jays began making calls with some calls imitating the Hawk's call, the Blue Jays continued the calls for about 30 minutes and then all but one departed. The remaining Blue Jay was the mate of the one killed who perched quietly and mostly motionless the remainder of the day then returning for the next few days sitting over the spot.
In conclusion, I find the Blue Jay a fascinating bird that somehow seems to find new interesting ways to amuse me, although my Bird Food Services can add up but the rewards of watching many birds bring great rewards. The link below is a series of videos about the Blue Jays.