Blue jays can make many different sounds, and single sounds may vary a bit. Blue jays can learn to mimic human speech. Blue jays can also copy the callings of local hawks so well that it is sometimes difficult to tell which it is. Their voice is normal of most jays in being varied, but the most commonly thought sound is the "alarm call", which is a loud, almost gull-like scream. There is also a high-pitched jayer-jayer call that increases in speed as the bird becomes more excited.This very call can be easily confused with the chick-a-dee's song because of the slow starting chick-ah-dee-ee. Blue Jays will use these calls to band together to mob predators such as hawks and drive them away from the jays' nests.