Blue Jay

I've been sitting looking out the window for about three hours.  Camera in hand, I have at least switched from one window to another.  It's my first day of Spring Break and a much needed rest from my labors as a first grade teacher, music teacher, and computer teacher.  As luck would have it I've just woken from a 48 hour sleep induced by the flu...Yuck!  At least I'm feeling well enough to look out the window and even made it outside to refill my feeders.  I'm waiting for the Brown Creepers to return.  They usually arrive right around April first.  Guess who seems to pop up in every window?  The Blue Jay!

The crows and jays are fighting over these peanuts I happened to find in my garage!

If I was a birder from out west, this is one of the birds I'd want to see!

My friend Joy, at JEMinEYE talked about Blue Jays and her love for them recently.  I've always enjoyed these bad boys, too.  There coloring alone makes them worthy of wearing feathers.  The way they protect their family unit is rather impressive.  It can be a bit annoying when they use their sentinel call to notify all of your presence the moment you set your foot in the forest.  When they mimic the Red-Shouldered Hawk I run to see... a Blue Jay!  With 30 plus oak trees in my yard, I guess I might as well like them because they are here to stay.

I've managed to stay awake for six hours!  I guess it's time for a nap, but I'd rather be birding!

Another bad boy...The crow always alerts me to the presence of our neighborhood  Red-Shouldered Hawk!