Quit frontin’, Rick Ross; Humboldt’s Steller’s Jay be straight hustlin’.

One of Arcata’s very own jays will be featured in a three-part wildlife documentary on PBS starting next week titled “Natural Born Hustlers.” Our stellar representative will be included because of its ability to mimic the call of a Red-Shouldered Hawk.

The footage was filmed near the Humboldt State campus, in Wildlife Professor Jeff Black’s backyard. Black told the Outpost that HSU’s Wildlife department has studied and produced renowned scientific papers on the birds’ behaviors for the last 17 years.

“The birds live right on the edge of the forest, so they come to people’s feeders and nest in everybody’s backyard,” Black said. “There’s a lot of folks in town that help us on our long-term study, by telling us what birds are present and what they’re up to. It’s kind of like a citizens’ science project.”

The footage was filmed in February of last year by the BBC for the television series “World’s Sneakiest Animals.”

HSU wildlife alumnus and Arcata local Will Goldenberg worked on the BBC production.

“A fun fact about the show: in England it was called ‘World’s Sneakiest Animals,’” Goldenberg said. “But when PBS picked it up, they didn’t think the name was spicy enough for the U.S. audience, so they changed it to ‘Natural Born Hustlers.’”

Goldenberg, whose master’s thesis focused on the bird, said the Steller’s Jay’s ability to mimic other birds is widely known in the scientific community.

“BBC thought Arcata would be a really great place to film because we’re more familiar with the Steller’s Jay population than any other area,” Goldenberg said.

However, not all of Arcata’s Steller’s Jays mimic hawk calls.

“Most jays don’t give those calls; it’s very specific individuals that do it.” Goldenberg said. “I had to find that specific bird and follow him around for a few days and record him to make sure I got it.”

In the documentary, BBC interprets the jays’ mimicked calls as a way to scare away smaller birds competing for the same food. However, Goldenberg said that theory is only based on anecdotal evidence.

“There’s very little scientific information on why they actually do it,” he said.

The series isn’t the only recent natural history documentary to be filmed in Humboldt County by the BBC. Goldenberg said the British Broadcasting Company just wrapped on a shoot about climbing the redwoods a few weeks ago.

“I have a feeling we’re going to have more film crews here in the future.” Goldenberg said. “This area is definitely on the radar in England.”

The “Natural Born Hustlers” episode featuring the Steller’s Jay will air locally on KEET at 8 p.m.on January 20. But if you can’t wait that long and you’ve managed to make it to the end of this article, here’s a YouTube video of the BBC version.