Vocabulary Words
- Refraction – splitting light into rich, component colors.
- Monomorphic – males and females have the same appearance or coloring.
Fun Facts
- The feathers of the Blue Jay aren’t actually blue. It is a trick of light refraction. If you dip the feather in water, you will see that they are actually brown.
- Blue Jays are very intelligent animals. Here are some of the things they do in the wild:
- Cow birds lay eggs in other birds nests, leaving the other birds to care for them. Blue Jays are one of the few birds that realize it and eat the eggs!
- Blue Jays will mimic the call of the Red Shouldered Hawk in order to scare other birds away.
- Blue Jays will rub against ants in order to get the formic acid, that ants spray, onto their feathers. This keeps bacteria and mites from growing on them. Then, the Blue Jay can eat the ants, because they have rubbed off all of the formic acid, which is what tastes bad!