Prince Edward Island: XL Blue Jays Eat From Your Hand

We wanted to see the seals on Prince Edward Island, but got an extra treat at our cabin: huge, friendly blue jays. Blue jays are the official bird of this Canadian province, but that usually means nothing. But they're everywhere here.

Glenn Saunders, our host at Forest and Stream Cottages in Murray Harbor, PE, told us that last year he had the jays eating out of his hand. This year, he said at first, he hadn't put the time into it.

Our cottage is next to the B&B, which has big windows and lots of bird feeders. I put some peanuts out for the red squirrels and chipmunks and the blue jays quickly buzzed in and picked them up.

I figured they were so bold, they probably would let me sit at the picnic table while they took nuts off it. They complained a lot about the situation from the trees, but eventually they did it. They'd swoop in, sometimes with a thud. Eventually they got used to the situation and slowed down, shoving two peanuts in their mouths (one half down their throats).

The jays were so close, so loud, I could see them interact. One was a juvenile, which I never would have known by its husky size. But it would cry and flap its wings, begging its parents for food, then chase after them when they got a nut.

Glenn told us he got the jays to eat from his hand. Then he took the time to show me how he did it. First he'd put the peanut on a porch railing, then whistle them in. Then he'd hold out his hand and the jays would come to the porch roof, then furtively fly down and take a nut.

He guided me and much to my surprise and delight they ate from my hand, too. Four times. They did a lot of fretting between the tree and the roof, but eventually swooped in and took the nuts. I've always liked blue jays and their bossy personalities, but this made melove them even more.

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Prince Edward Islanders watching seal colony for sixty years

Yesterday David, Jolly and I got to see a huge colony of grey and harbor seals living on an island wildlife sanctuary on Prince Edward Island Canada. The Captain of Marine Adventures told us he'd been doing the tours for nine years and that the tour had been running since the early 1980s. He also mentioned that he recently had a 64-year-old woman passenger who said that her father used to take her out to see the seals when she was a little girl. It's fun to think of how long people have enjoyed just going out to see the seal colony.

The captain told us that a few years ago the seals were counted and there were about 300, but he now thinks there are less, somewhere between 200 and 300. The seal pups were wiped out in recent winters because there was no ice to protect them when a storm hit.

I couldn't count how many we saw sunning themselves on a sandbar with some cormorants and gulls. Or swimming out in the water to watch us. Some kept bobbing up behind the boat like they were following us. I asked the captain whether some people threw them fish--a tactic that more than one passenger on our cruise discussed. He said, no, it was illegal to feed them, but that maybe that's what they were looking for from the boats. Fishermen would shoot them if they saw them behind their boats, he said.

Generally this wasn't one of those narrative trips. We went out saw the seals and some mussel colonies, asked whatever questions we had. Fine. We really appreciated their letting Jolly come aboard. He just laid down and was fussed over by two sweet little girls. If Jolly wasn't able to go, David would've stayed on shore to watch him. We learned from our whale watch in Campobello that when a dog barks at a seal colony, all the seals dive into the water. So, it would be understandable if the captain didn't want Jolly. But instead of just banning dogs, he asked whether Jolly would bark.

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