Curious Jays

This captivating photograph was taken in a free flight aviary called the "Emerald Forest"at the "Range of the Jaguar"exhibit at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. The two birds on the camera are plush-crested jays, which are South American representatives of the raven, crow, jay, rook, magpie, and jackdaw family otherwise known as "corvid."

Plush-crested jays are named for the stiff feathers on their heads. They have metallic purple-blue feathers, and light blue, wide eyebrows that give them a questioning demeanor. They are vocal and are known to mimic other birds in the wild. It is no surprise that they are bold and will investigate anything new in their environment.

Corvids are extremely intelligent, inquisitive birds that are equated to mammalian primates. However their brains do not have a complex cortex, rather another part of the brain, called the hyper-striatum, is highly developed. Larger corvids, such as ravens, are known to be able to count, up to seven!

A anecdote goes that hunters would go into a blind to shoot birds, and when this happened, the birds learned to make themselves scarce. When a hunter or two would leave the blind, the birds still wouldn't come back; they knew the number inside and wouldn't come back until ALL the men had exited the blind.

The photo was taken by Marian Brickner, who had the tables turned by the jays, who found her big lens an inviting and exciting object of exploration.