The Cornell Lab Bird Academy › Discussion Groups › Community Forum › Photo series of a Blue Jay in the wild making and using a tool.
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I contacted the Cornell Lab of Ornithology via the contact page twice that I had witnessed and photographed a series of 70 high resolution photos of a Blue Jay in the wild making and using a tool to hunt and extract a spider from under bark on a dead branch of a pine tree. I understand that they receive thousands of contacts/emails a month so I was not surprised that the only reply both times was a canned response to find the identification information I was seeking on the Cornell Lab site and to join e-bird if I wanted to post photos etc. I am already a member. I also had a couple photos of the Blue Jay with the spider posted. Everything I have looked up and found for Blue Jay tool usage lists the only documentation as laboratory raised captive Blue Jay using g a piece of paper to drag seeds or food pellets closer to the cage so that it could reach them. Every reference to that documentation also states that tool usage has never been witnessed/documented in the wild. Even here on the Cornell Lab site “All About Birds” Blue Jay page it states, and I quote, “Tool use has never been reported for wild Blue Jays, but captive Blue Jays used strips of newspaper to rake in food pellets from outside their cages.” (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blue_Jay) So, if there is a chance anybody at the Cornell Lab might have interest in this series of photos can someone direct me to a contact that will not respond with a canned reply? One image of the Blue Jay with the spider is attached. The captured spider is held in Blue Jay's left foot. This is a low resolution sample. Many of the 70 photographs in the series are better. Thank you.You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
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First time I logged in since my original post. Just a quick correction... The folder with the Blue Jay tool usage series has a total of 70 photographs. 62 Of them are the series of the Blue Jay. The other 8 are miscellaneous unrelated photos.