Scrub Jay + Wild Cucumbers (Arapahoe)

[Jared Del Rosso]

This morning, I spent a short time on the High Line Canal in Centennial (Arapahoe). The canal was active with expected birds. The least expected bird was a Woodhouse's Scrub Jay, which was continually visiting a juniper not to feed on the juniper's cones (I didn't see any cones, actually) but on the Wild Cucumber seed pods that hung, like drab ornaments, on the juniper.

It seemed like difficult work. I only saw the scrub jay carry away one seed pod in the 5-10 minutes I watched it. Otherwise, I noticed it pecking at the underside of the pods on the vine, but I couldn't tell if that effort paid off.  Part of the problem seemed to be the perches -- the vine itself wasn't much for the scrub jay and once, in fact, it seemed to fall off its perch.

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO