Young Blue Jay
It’s not easy to get near a Blue Jay. Though they’re common visitors to bird baths and feeders, unlike Robins and Chickadees, they’re reluctant to let humans get too close. Perhaps it’s because they’re fairly slow flyers compared to other birds their size and need more lead time to flee from predators. However, this week we had the unique opportunity to see a young Blue Jay up close. It had flown into the front window and lay on the grass recovering for a few minutes before flying off to the woods. Its plumage was spectacular.
Blue Jay Tail Feathers
Blue Jay Wing Feathers
Blue Jays are strikingly beautiful birds to see at any distance, but up close, their feathers are remarkably awesome. Their tail and wing feathers are the bluest blue.
Blue Jay Back Feathers
There are four sub-types of Blue Jay in North America, but the ones we see in Nova Scotia are among the brightest in color.
A Blue Jay’s feathers appear blue due to light refraction. This process depends exclusively on the integrity of the feather’s structure. If a feather is crushed, it cannot refract light and consequently will lose its blueness. A dull grey feather is the result.
It wasn’t long before this little creature was on its way. Though we feared it may have broken a wing, it had no problem flying off on its own to the safety of the woods.
For more information on Blue Jays, see last year’s post on Blue Jay Feathers
Oh my – he/she is a beauty, hey? I have them come to my feeder but like you sais, they don’t stay long. Had to race to the end of the story to make sure he was OK. Beautimous, wondermous blue….
Those are terrific pictures, Amy-Lynn. I have to show them to my husband, aviphobe though he is, as he was just telling me about an artist friend’s representation of a blue jay and how startlingly blue the bird was.
What a wonderful photo! Poor little guy must have thought his number was up.
These are great! The bluest blue surely gifted you with a close-up look. I am glad he lived to fly away (after giving us all such a wonderful view.)
Those are beautiful shots, Amy-Lynn. Never seen one that close. I love blue-jays contrasted against the white snow in winter. My mom used to rap on the window to shoo them away from the bird feeders, though – she said they didn’t let the other birds have their turns.
Cann’t help but try to picture the excitement on this side of the window 🙂
It is good your camera rose to the occasion!
Beautiful but bullies at the feeder. I am enjoying all the summer birds. We have a green heron I keep trying to photograph. It escapes before I can get close enough for a decent photo. Time for the tripod.
Thank you all for your comments. It was a joy to share the close-ups with you.
Another bird crashed into my office window yesterday but flew off immediately. I really wonder what they’re thinking (or not thinking) when they do this.
Oh wow! What a beautiful bird. We have a different sort of Jay here in the UK, so it’s lovely to see a blue Jay, especially a young one. As well as beautiful plumage, it’s got a very pretty face too – lovely eyes. I hope it recovered quickly.
🙂
Val
Val, it truly is a gorgeous bird. It took about 15 minutes to fly off the ground. The rest of its family was nearby. They’re supposed to be excellent at caring for one another so I think it had a pretty good chance of a total recovery.
I’ve searched for images of the Jays in your corner of the world. They are indeed different. Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment.
Awesome! It’s a blue bird of hapiness 🙂
Nadezhda, you are right on 🙂 It certainly is.
Great close-up images! What a lucky jay–to just be stunned but not seriously injured. Lovely blues. I like jays very much. Observed them at my feeders for years. When I started putting out peanuts in the shell for them it got very interesting. Individuality manifested in how the birds dealt with these offerings. One was very very smart and hid the peanuts close by so that it could collect more of them by not taking them all the way ‘home’. They’re such fun birds.
47whitebuffalo, yes, they do like to bury food. Years ago I even saw one repeatedly steal and bury kibble from my dog’s dish.
The blue jays are the most splashy birds when they take a dip in the bird bath. They sure provide a great deal of entertainment.
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