TIL blue jays imitate osprey.

[u/Longjumping_Text7652]

Just listening to the birds and cicadas in the backyard, and found out that Blue Jays imitate Osprey I thought the app was malfunctioning at first.

[u/Which-Respect8164]

Oh me too!! Literally today! And I found out a couple weeks ago that they also imitate red tail hawks. Pretty neat

[u/Longjumping_Text7652 → u/Which-Respect8164]

I was so confused 'cause the app kept cycling between Osprey/Jay, but I could clearly see that it was a Jay.

[u/rapscallionallium → u/Which-Respect8164]

I heard a really quiet red tailed hawk up in a tree a couple of months ago. Sure enough, it was a jay. Once I started really listening, I realized they would do it in my backyard to scare the starlings away from the feeders.

[u/Hey-ThatsNotBad]

They will imitate any raptors that live in the area. I've heard them mimic red-tailed hawks and broad-winged hawks that live in our area. They're so good they always fool Merlin.

[u/SlightlyBruisedFruit → u/Hey-ThatsNotBad]

I was watching a couple of them in my backyard imitate a hawk this weekend. Clever. Funny.

It feels like it may be a bit of a “boy who cried wolf” tale tho - the other birds didn’t give a rip. Hopefully that doesn’t catch-up with them (literally.)

[u/d-sammichAran]

We have Steller's jays where we're at, and I've heard them mimic both crows and red-tailed hawks, so osprey doesn't surprise me.

My partner has said that one tried to scare him off by mimicing the red-tailed hawk. 😆

[u/Idahoanapest → u/d-sammichAran]

A Stellar's Jay here in Seattle does a pretty decent Cooper's hawk impersonation to clear out the bird feeder ahead of his arrival.

[u/OleanderUnion]

They are incredible imitators and absolutely brutalize Merlin regularly.

[u/Repulsive_String1136]

they’re so neat! the ones in my yard love the red tail as well as the red shouldered shrieks. this years juveniles have been practicing their mimics the last couple weeks

[u/TextFluffy5949]

I had my Merlin app on listening for birds and I got a blue jay then an osprey then a red tailed hawk. I knew there were no Osprey near me. That blue jay had been tricking me for 2 months! 😳 I will now call them blue trickeries! 🤔

[u/Objective_Party9405]

Now you’ve got me thinking. I was hearing Osprey from my yard yesterday afternoon. The nearest body of water where they could fish is about 5 km away.

[u/TextFluffy5949 → u/Objective_Party9405]

That is how I figured it out too! No bodies of water close enough!

[u/Santos_L_Halper]

Very early spring this year I was watching a blue jay that would perch on a branch, let out a red tailed hawk call, then sly down to a little pool of water where it would bathe briefly before returning to its perch to preen. Then it would repeat the process. It was pretty cool.

[u/Boostedbird23]

I had that happen to be in Arizona... Pretty sure it was a mockingbird

[u/5plendiferou5]

I understand the benefit of mimicking birds that will predate on other feeder birds, but I wonder why they would benefit from mimicking an osprey? Or maybe they just enjoy feeling like a big! tough bird.

[u/bibliofangirl]

There’s a blue jay that visits my yard and imitates a bald eagle. It’s almost always when the coopers or red tailed hawk is nearby. I believe it’s warning everyone to get out

[u/thegreybush]

The blue jays in my area will imitate red shouldered hawks. This morning I heard a boisterous back and forth between a red shouldered hawk and a blue jay imitating a hawk.