UNIVERSAL CITY, Texas – A Universal City woman discovered a rare hybrid bird in her backyard.
Donna Currey, a retired U.S. Air Force veteran, said she was sitting on her porch three years ago when she noticed a blue jay that looked a little different.
“I’m looking and I am going, ‘Well, that’s a weird looking blue jay,” Currey said. “All the other blue jays I’ve seen, they have normal blue heads, and this one had an all-black head. And, I’m going, ‘Well, what happened?’”
Currey shared her pictures on social media to look for answers. That’s how Brian Stokes, a graduate student in ecology, evolution and behavior at the University of Texas at Austin, found her.
He was able to visit Currey’s house to safely capture the bird and see it for himself.
Stokes found the bird to be a natural result of a green jay and a blue jay’s mating.
He confirmed the bird may be among the first examples of a hybrid animal that exists because of recent changing patterns in the climate.
“I sort of assumed it had gone somewhere else or had potentially died,” Stokes said. “But (Currey) saw it again this summer and had a picture of it ... so, it somehow was hanging out in that area of San Antonio.”
“Maybe it remembered that she had good feeders or lots of peanuts,” Stokes said.
Currey didn’t realize it at the time, but she had just discovered a new species.
“Why me?” Currey asked. “I’m just a little old lady that sits here and feeds birds.”
Stokes took a quick blood sample of the strange bird, banded its leg to help relocate it in the future and let it go.
“I think it just points to how valuable citizen scientists are going to keep being in the upcoming years for general environmental or biology research,” Stokes said.
Currey said she recommends putting out raw, unsalted peanuts for the birds. That’s what this special hybrid bird came back for this summer.
“Maybe next year, I’ll have my bag of peanuts ready, and hopefully, it’ll come back,” Currey said.
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