I was watching some young jackdaws the other day, and was reminded that this was an annual delight when we lived in Minsterley, as they always nested in the locality. Indeed, living as we did in an old Victorian house, it was an ongoing battle to prevent them nesting in any of the many chimneys, and the protective mesh had to be regularly checked. For someone I know, failure to prevent this resulted in two young jackdaws, plus amounts of soot, arriving unexpectedly in the lounge, via the fireplace (you can imagine the mess). More commonly, the chimney just gets blocked.
Outdoors, the young jackdaws were as ungainly as any other young bird, but of course much bigger than most. They had much to learn, but the parents always seemed attentive and watchful. It can be a stressful life as a young jackdaw, as viewers of this year’s ‘Springwatch’ programmes will know: two young birds were mercilessly harassed by a couple of adult birds who it seems wanted the nest, though these youngsters did seem to be fighting back pretty well. But for social birds like jackdaws, pecking orders and argumentative neighbours are just part of the scene.
Jackdaws are black-plumaged with a distinctive grey nape, and typical habitats might be cliffs and derelict buildings, but also woodland and open country. They are of course members of the crow family, smaller than ravens, rooks and carrion crows, but still pretty big. They are very happy to live close to people, and jackdaws used to visit our feeders in a previous garden, but without much success, being too big and ungainly to access them, despite scaring most of the smaller birds away.
Away from human habitation, jackdaws will exploit holes of any sort, including rabbit burrows sometimes, as nest sites, though they will build nests in more exposed situations. Nests are untidy, made of twigs lined with grass, hair and wool. Jackdaws have been known to pluck wool for their nests from the backs of grazing sheep. Like other members of the crow family, jackdaws will steal and collect shiny objects.
Jackdaws lay between three and seven eggs, which are incubated by the female, with the male making sure she is fed on the nest. The young fledge at about a month old. The jackdaw’s “jack” cry gives it its name - my great-aunt, who had a pet one, told me she’d taught it to speak, but I only ever heard it say its name, which as it happens was Jack, which fell some way short of convincing proof. Jack had a liking for bits of apple and for ham sandwiches, I seem to recall.
In the wild jackdaws eat a wide range of foods, including grain, fruit and insects and invertebrates. They eat carrion, competing with magpies and carrion crows for roadkill. They will also take young birds and eggs, though they represent a danger mainly to inexperienced young parents whose nests are not well hidden.
Jackdaws are common throughout the UK, and are present all year, sometimes in very large flocks. Numbers are increased by continental birds that winter here.
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