> The example code breaks on the prepareStatement,
> probably because Jaybird or Firebird is unable to determine the type
> of the third parameter:
> ...
> Is this expected behavior? (This style of querying works in MS-SQL)

Yes.

> Is there some way to achieve the same effect?

I'm not sure... Try asking in Firebird-Support group. If I remember
correctly, this type of query will work in Firebird 2.0 (at least there were
talks about this in firebird-devel list). Most likely there is some
workaround for now.

Roman