Brooklyn's Blue Jays

BirdNote^®

Brooklyn’s Blue Jays

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.
Blue Jay call, https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/94217, 0.14-0.17]
Brooklyn, New York City’s southeastern borough, has prime spots to see birds. Prospect Park, with more than 500 acres — many of them covered in trees — fosters lots of native bird life.
One denizen of Brooklyn’s trees is the strikingly beautiful Blue Jay.  
[Blue Jay call, https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/94217, 0.14-0.17]
Nearly a foot long, the jay is unmistakable. With vivid sky-blue crest and back, fine dark cross-hatching on blue wings and tail, and a black necklace, it’s a familiar sight in Brooklyn’s trees.  
[Blue Jay toot call, https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/539849, 0.01-.05]
Blue Jays are consummate tree dwellers: they nest, forage, and roost in the trees — even in this New York borough of over two million people. They travel through Brooklyn neighborhoods from branch to branch.
[Blue Jay toot call, https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/539849] 
And if you live in the eastern US, you can invite Blue Jays into even a small yard with a decent tree or two. This doesn’t require lots of square footage on the ground. It’s the volume of branches and leafy habitat overhead that matter to the jays.
Blue Jays are especially fond of oak trees, which provide acorns and habitat for large insects — two of their favorite foods.

Blue Jay call, https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/94217, 0.14-0.17]
For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Production Manager: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Digital Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Blue Jay ML 539849 recorded by W. Hershberger, and Blue Jay ML 94217 recorded by W. Hershberger.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© August 2021 / May 2023   BirdNote      

Narrator: Mary McCann
ID# BLJA-02     BLJA-02-2021-08-11

References 
https://www.bbg.org/news/birds_of_brooklyn_blue_jay
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/nyregion/blue-j…
Brooklyn street trees 
https://tree-map.nycgovparks.org/tree-map/borough/3
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/nyregion/blue-j…;