Bird on The Big Bang Theory
November 11, 2011 7:44 AM   Subscribe

Can anyone identify the bird that was on The Big Bang Theory last night - it was identified on the show as a Blue Jay but it certainly didn't look like any Blue Jay I have ever seen.
posted by Minos888 to Pets & Animals (9 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Looked like a Kingfisher to me.
posted by cashman at 7:47 AM on November 11, 2011


Do you have a link to the relevant scene or a screen capture?
posted by fiercekitten at 8:03 AM on November 11, 2011


Picture here
posted by blue_beetle at 8:10 AM on November 11, 2011


I'm not an expert on north american birds by any means, but could that be a black-throated magpie-jay?
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 8:14 AM on November 11, 2011 [2 favorites]


I agree with LMDBA, definitely a black-throated magpie-jay
posted by blue_beetle at 8:17 AM on November 11, 2011


Response by poster: Confirmed - Black throated magpie jay - Bill Prady (one of the show runners) identified it on twitter.
posted by Minos888 at 8:18 AM on November 11, 2011


I remember thinking that the bird seemed really big for a blue jay. The black-throated magpie is 2 to 3 times heavier than a blue jay.
posted by shoesietart at 8:25 AM on November 11, 2011


You have your answer, but in case you care - there's a lot of variation in the jay family, though many have a recognizable look and thus you hear people just say "blue jay" when they really mean the blue variety of jay they're familiar with. They also tend to be really aggressive; my wife and I usually call them "jerk birds" (because that's the level of cool in our household)

Here's another variety we saw in Costa Rica. It would hang around the outdoor restaurant, shriek loudly to indicate its displeasure that you weren't getting out of its way to allow it to eat your food, and sometimes would just come land on the back of my chair... while I was still sitting in it.

The Cornell Ornithology Lab has a great website for identifying birds or for just looking at pretty pictures. The jay you're likely thinking of when you hear blue jay is here but you can see others like the Stellar that are also crested.
posted by phearlez at 8:42 AM on November 11, 2011 [2 favorites]


Mod note: Birds are awesome, but this needs to not turn into a bird chatroom.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:11 AM on November 11, 2011


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