The McBone Birdwatching Journal; Blue Jay

The blue jay is among the most cantankerous species in all the bird kingdom, screeching and cawing (read: bitching and moaning) in the most vulgar of ways from high in the treetops.  They are also, in my opinion, one of the most spectacular to look at:

Beautiful, loud, temperamental, obnoxious and rude...I guess that makes them kind of like the Stanley Kowalski of birds.

From my observations, blue jays tend to be the wandering type, stopping by for a quick bite, stirring things up, showing off their bespeckled blue feathers and dropping some flip remark before taking their act to another corner of the hood. Today we had the good fortune to have a particularly raucous flock of four drop by for most of the afternoon.

The wind was blowing and the jays were squawking, but the only unpleasantness I could hear was the  roar of the internal combustion engine. Check out this signature, McBone-produced, ultra low-quality vid:



The atonal serenade alone would have contented us, but the blue jay's was not the only fancy display of plumage to be observed today. Behold the rare and mysterious neighbor bird, with ostentatious fuchsia crown, foraging in the dirt for beetles, worms, grubs and maggots:

Should you encounter the fussy neighbor bird trespassing on your lawn, you'll find it is easily frightened by a well aimed garden hose.

nwb