Blue jays can select fertile acorns with 88 percent accuracy. They can also count to at least five. And they can neatly mimic the piercing cry of a red-shouldered hawk, kee-ah, kee-ah—which they do often, perhaps to fool other birds into believing there’s a raptor in the vicinity, leaving more nuts for the taking. No wonder Bluejay is the trickster hero of the Chinook and other Northwest Coast tribes.
