Here is my entry for #smap round 58 with a theme of Corvids as recommended by
Previously I had not really known that jays fall under the category of corvids. I always thought of corvids as crows only. Fortunately just last week I was up in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona and found a bunch of Mexican Jays.
These Mexican Jays have four subspecies that feature different calls, sizes and colors and can be identified by the region they inhabit.
This particular subspecies of Mexican Jay is called Aphelocoma wollweberi arizonae as it inhabits the border area of Arizona and Mexico and is the largest of the Mexican Jay subspecies.
At a popular trail head into the Chiricahua Mountains these jays like to swarm near hikers getting ready to go up the mountain. They know hikers will often drop various treats as they fuel up for the hike.
These guys are quite the opportunists, they always have their eyes on you waiting to see if you drop something.
Hey man are you done eating that granola bar? Help a buddy out over here...
This one decided not to beg the humans for food and took a rock instead. I suspect it has to use this rock to digest something fancy it got from a hiker.
Look at me I'm just a poor hungry jay, please please drop that chip you are eating...
These birds will eat almost anything including acorns, seeds, pinyon pine nuts, small snakes, insects, and sometimes even other birds lol. They like to hang around in groups and swarm down on food sources then will hilariously fight over the food. There is no honor among thieves.
If you ever get a chance to visit Southeast Arizona definitely check the mountains for Mexican Jays. At the very least you can get lots of amazing landscape photos if none of the birds are harassing you for food lol.
