Cooper Bluejay was our best success story. Cooper lived
free on 1.5 acres in Gardiner, NY. Although he was free, he was totally
attached to Armand who owns the land and several buildings and does amazing
ceramics. Cooper won’t leave Armand alone. Cooper mostly enjoys stealing
Armand’s supplies while he’s working and hiding them. Armand has calculated
that Cooper has stolen hundreds, if not thousands of dollars worth of items
by now. Nevertheless, Armand loves Cooper.
We met Armand and Cooper because one day, Wildlife Watch
got a call from a woman who said that a bluejay was hanging around her
driveway who appeared friendly and had a bright blue band on his ankle. Wait
a minute, I said, there’s a sign up at the supermarket with a blue band on a
bluejay. I ran up to the Shoprite and prayed that it hadn’t been taken down.
There it was! We called Armand and Carolyn who had posted it and Cooper had
a happy ending!
Carolyn said that Cooper is so smart that he builds little
pyramids with stones to mark a place where he is hiding something (usually
food). It’s also how Armand can find some of his belongings.
