Taken from The Crows a Study in Corvids of Europe Franklin Coombs.
An appealing note, a cat-like mewing of variable volume. Used in differing contexts it may be used in hunger, in making contact, in offering and soliciting food at the nest site, as a juvenile appeal call ( like the fledgling feeding food call), and used by the emale with wing fluttering to solicit courtship feeding,
Chirruping notes, which express the birds need to be en rapport with the creature at whom these are directed ( another jay or a human keeper ), with perhaps an appeasing function,
As each monosyllable is uttered, the body and tail are jerked slightly and the longer note is preceded or followed by gaping.
Over the years we have perhaps got a little bit tied up with chasing rare birds identifying every feather on a bird, and maybe we have forgot to just sit and watch the behaviour of the common birds, there is loads of information on ID and all the news books, but some of the old books are full of little jems of info.
The Handbook of British birds 5 volumes is excellent.
Paul, at 2-30 in the morning, on my own, during a storm I would have been less suprised if it had been a singing gnome sat on a toadstool ! I don't like attaching human emotions to birds but when you mentioned "contentment" in your earlier post it was exactly what had crossed my mind at the time. Likewise the mewing I always seem to pick up after showers strikes me that the bird is bored/cheesed off with sheltering. There are no answers in this game Mate ..... it's all theory. What I have picked up (and what I love about this forum) is that something I thought of as insignificant at the time is that you and I have witnessed some rather uncommon behaviour.
Roger.
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Blessed is the man who expecteth little reward ..... for he shall seldom be disappointed.
just a couple of other notes on this, first time I heard the bubbling calls which are pretty quiet it surprised me that it was a Jay. the majority of the time it has such raucous vocals, I have also heard Ravens making very similar sounds and more, it sounds almost as if the birds are just singing to themselves much as you or I would whistle a song when were alone. I've also heard Curlews being mimiced but cant remember if it was Jays or Starlings. As Bill said though, once you start to delve into it, you do end up with more questions than answers
I have to say, when I started this thread, I only expected to come up with some examples of other birds of prey mimicry, but to think that Jays go as far as mimicking many other songbirds amazes me. I'm going to have to watch out in the future! I've never truly heard that bubbling song of the Jay (I think I may have heard a snippet once), so I'm going to keep my ears open next time I find a Jay. These accounts of it make me very curious! It is strange in a way, the Jay is famed for it's unmelodious cry, but it seems that it's vocabulary is more complex than I imagined! The bird guides don't really go into much detail. I agree with Bill: we seem to have barely scratched the surface with bird sounds, despite their incredible value in identification. When I first started birding, I was really confused when I could hear a buzzard, and despite looking could only find a Jay! When I finally worked out the mimicry, and told a friend about it, he asked 'but why?', and I was at loss to explain this behaviour. And it seemed that nobody really knows!
Thanks for the reference of "the sound approach", Bill. The price is a bit heavy for a small student budget, but I'll find a way to get myself a copy. It looks like a great book.
Finally, the idea that Jays only mimic birds that are in the area (mentioned by Bill) is a very interesting one. Does that mean that there are Tawny owls around the Wince brook nature reserve? I think I'm going to stick around there in the evening in the near future.
I'm going to spend more attention to Jay calls from now on.
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Target birds: Golden Plover, Little Owl, Common Crossbill.
"also often mimics the bird of prey confronted, e.g. gives hoot or 'ke-wick' of Tawny Owl Strix aluco when, or just before, mobbing it". I love that one Bill. In other words they lull it into a sense of false security before giving it a good seeing too when it opens its eyes ...... come to think of it I used to have a boss like that. By the way, ordered a copy of the "Sound Approach", right up my street. Thanks.
Roger.
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Blessed is the man who expecteth little reward ..... for he shall seldom be disappointed.
What a fascinating thread, with lots of really interesting observations in it. I know this appears to be stating the obvious but I'm sure that I can recall reading somewhere once that Jays can only reproduce the sounds of other birds/objects once they have heard a particular sound - i.e. in areas that don't hold Buzzards, then their sounds do not become part of the Jay's vocal range. So it is suggested that it is mimicry and not part of the Jay's "normal" repertoire...whatever that may be? Unfortunately, I can't find where I might have seen this! I think that the bubbling sounds mentioned by Paul and Roger is possibly regarded as being the song of this species? - although the difference between song and call are in some cases really just artificial man-made boundaries that may not be as easy to separate as to their true purpose, as we would like. Roger's vivid recollection of one doing this in the middle of the night however throws up more questions than answers.
One of my favourite books on bird vocalisations "The Sound Approach to Birding" by M. Constantine states that "...each of us have been caught out by Eurasian Jay's habit of flying around copying everything from a firework to a Common Buzzard B buteo, a Northern Goshawk A gentillis, or a Tawny Owl S aluco". It then goes on to state that "There are various theories as to why birds imitate. In the case of Jay it is thought to be an aspect of mobbing". Sadly, it does not expand further on this interesting idea. This is just one of many intriguing and thought-provoking ideas given out in this book. Birds of the Western Palearctic Interactive (BWPi) has a little further on the mobbing aspect mentioned above, which may be of interest in that it suggests that it "also often mimics the bird of prey confronted, e.g. gives hoot or 'ke-wick' of Tawny Owl Strix aluco when, or just before, mobbing it". What an interesting proposition! Why would it do that?
Paul, you asked at the start of thread for other examples of mimicked species. I've suspected but can't be completely sure that I once had one doing the "yaffle" of a Green Woodpecker at Drinkwater Park in GM. I had a very quick trawl through BWPi and species suggested as possibly being mimicked in both calls and song, in addition to those already mentioned above, included Kestrel, Grey Partridge, Crane, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Starling (itself an excellent mimic), Golden Oriole, Bullfinch, Blackcap and Mistle Thrush...and I suspect that there may well be more? Possibly then the Jay's mimicking of the song of various songbirds serves a different purpose to the mimicking of the calls of potential threats to this species?
Once you start thinking of these things you tend to come up with even more questions than you originally started off with! All of which suggests we are barely scratching the surface when it comes to the understanding of birds sounds...if we ever can?
When I reported a possible Buzzard mewing in Mossley earlier this year, Roger tracked down the culprit Jay. However, since then, a Buzzard has taken up residence in that very spot. Could the Buzzard possibly have been attracted by the Jay's calls and found the local rabbits to it's liking
Hi Paul, I go around Haigh Hall woodlands quite a lot. the Jays here are brilliant at mimicing Tawny Owls, Buzzards have only recently moved in a few years back and I've been fooled many times already into thinking one was nearby only to find out it was a Jay. they also have a some weird but really nice bubbling calls which I always seem to think of as a sign of contentment.
Jays are known for mimicking the cry of the buzzard, but I've noticed that it is not the only bird the Jay can mimic. I've already heard one do a (poor) imitation of a crow. However, today, as I went along the Wince brook natural reserve, I heard what sounded a lot like the 'Kevick' of a Tawny owl (at 12:30 in the afternoon!), followed by the cry of a Jay. I spied the Jay, who stayed in the tiny copse of trees who had now shut up after it's outburst. I've never found (or heard) of any evidence of Tawny owls on this site, so it would obviously great to find a roost around here. But the fact that I heard the Tawny owl's cry a few times out of the blue, in the middle of the day, followed a few moments later by the jay, has lead me to believe that it could be the jay mimicking the Tawny owl call. No sign of an owl was seen (who, if there really was an owl, could have flown off without me seeing it).
Anyway, I would value any input on this affair, especially concerning any other accounts of jay mimicking other birds.
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Target birds: Golden Plover, Little Owl, Common Crossbill.
Like Craig I'm never sure if they are mimicing (Buzzard) or it is a natural Jay call ..... Over the years I have noticed that it nearly always happens during or just after a shower when the birds are sheltering under cover.Some say they only do it in spring but I've heard them in all seasons. When Paul mentioned the bubbling it reminded me of a bad stormy night a couple of years ago. I was working outside about 02.30 hrs when I heard what sounded like someone mumbling away to themselves in the trees ..... upon investigation (after bracing myself) I spotted a Jay huddled up against the trunk of a scrub Willow ..... it was making very low chuckling sounds,clicks, sneezes and wheezes, really going at it. It was only about 4 yards away and I watched it for about 10 minutes, was still there when I left and to this day I don't know if it was asleep or not but it didn't take flight, but as I said it was raining really heavily.
Another thing, when the "mewing" call is heard .... has anyone ever heard a perched Buzzard call ? .... I've only ever heard them in flight.
-- Edited by Roger Baker 3 on Monday 19th of November 2012 01:10:31 AM
-- Edited by Roger Baker 3 on Monday 19th of November 2012 07:16:01 AM
__________________
Blessed is the man who expecteth little reward ..... for he shall seldom be disappointed.
! I've never truly heard that bubbling song of the Jay (I think I may have heard a snippet once), so I'm going to keep my ears open next time I find a Jay. These accounts of it make me very curious! It is strange in a way, the Jay is famed for it's unmelodious cry, but it seems that it's vocabulary is more complex than I imagined! The bird guides don't really go into much detail. I agree with Bill: we seem to have barely scratched the surface with bird sounds, despite their incredible value in identification. When I first started birding, I was really confused when I could hear a buzzard, and despite looking could only find a Jay! When I finally worked out the mimicry, and told a friend about it, he asked 'but why?', and I was at loss to explain this behaviour. And it seemed that nobody really knows! 
Unfortunately, I can't find where I might have seen this! 
I think that the bubbling sounds mentioned by Paul and Roger is possibly regarded as being the song of this species? - although the difference between song and call are in some cases really just artificial man-made boundaries that may not be as easy to separate as to their true purpose, as we would like. Roger's vivid recollection of one doing this in the middle of the night however throws up more questions than answers. 
Why would it do that? 