Yesterday morning looked a bit grey. I didn’t think it was supposed to be like that. But it almost looked like it might rain at one point. So I listened to the blue jays. They were doing some clicking and whistling, but none of them were yelling about rain. So I figured it would clear off. And it did.
The blue jays aren’t always right, but they are quite often. It probably has something to do with the change in air pressure when a storm approaches. Maybe it gives them a sinus headache and they start to yell about it. I have no idea. All I know is that on of their many calls seems to happen when it is about to rain.
I picked this up many years ago, working in the woods as a teenager. I can remember one of the people I was working with listening as we headed to work in the morning. If he heard the blue jays and their rain call, he would remind everyone to take along their rain gear. The blue jays were calling for rain, so it would get wet very shortly.
It didn’t always come true, but it did happen often enough that we all started listening to the birds. You only have to get wet, cold and uncomfortable once or twice to start paying attention. If the jays tell you to take a rain coat, you should listen.
So yesterday, after listening to the blue jays not talk about rain and deciding it would clear off, I later Googled this. You get a whole lot of stories about baseball games being postponed, but very little about the ability of birds to predict weather. But I’m pretty sure I didn’t just imagine this.
There is surprisingly little information available about blue jays and their various calls. They have a lot. And while they may not be talking to us, but to each other, maybe we should listen in from time to time. Who knows what we might learn.
