Bird Watching: Blue jays making a weird sound, 1 by rntx22

rntx22 wrote:
Lately the blue jays have been making a strange call, one I have never heard them make before. Every time I hear it I get excited, thinking its a hawk. Then I finally saw one doing it and realized it was them the whole time. I read on wikipedia that they can mimic local hawks quite well.

I wonder why this is the first time I am hearing them do this? And it isn't just the ones at my condo; I heard blue jays doing it at Brazos bend park yesterday - which is an hour away from me. Perhaps it is because this time of year the hawks are more abundant down here. I don't really know. Have any of you experienced this? It was hard to find a clip of the strange sounds (most sites just have the 2 more common calls) but I finally found it here:

http://www.learnbirdsongs.com/birdsong.php?id=5

They are the last 2 calls on that clip.

Here is a picture of a blue jay last fall, grabbing an acorn (just for kicks)