BLJA Fledgling

This blue jay was one of the first babies I cared for over my summer internship. The juvenile patients we receive are put on some variation of a feeding schedule until they can maintain their weight on their own. For birds, we usually fed them every 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours. The goal is to move from 2 hours to a weight test. When on weight test, the patient is weighed every other day for three days and their weight trends are recorded in our database. It is important that we monitor their weights often to adjust their feeding schedule. If a juvenile was consistently losing weight, then we would bump them to a more frequent feeding schedule.

Notice the mirror? Blue jays are in the corvidae family, which is known for their intelligence. As a growing fledgling, it was important that this fledgling be able to recognize its own species and not imprint on those who cared for her. This fledgling went through all the stages of hand-feeding successfully and was put in an outdoor enclosure with other Blue Jays to gain flight muscles and survival skills. The flock was released together after we felt confident in their performance in the outdoor enclosure.