Western Scrub-jay in Tiburon

Western Scrub-jay

 

We are constantly entertained by the blue jays in our yard who come for peanuts, and also for fellowship. We know they like the peanuts, but they seem to enjoy us too. When my son was feeling very low, there was one blue jay who would come to see him in his shop at the end of the car port. First he would sit on the open door and and look in, and then he would come inside and sit on the counter by the vise and look at Bob. It was just as if he were saying, "What's the matter? Can I help?"

One day, when I was dispensing peanuts, the blue jay, instead of eating it, pushed it into the ground of our gravel-covered back yard. He worked really hard at it, and finally got it poked down out of sight. Then he carefully covered it with rocks, one at a time, and as a final touch, found a leaf and placed it carefully on top. I was laughing at this performance because it was so cute, but was impressed because it was done so well. To me it was amazing that he could conceive such a project and then carry it out with such finesse.

In spite of such close and friendly association with the blue jays, I have never caught a good picture of one. I found this one on flikr. It was uploaded by little.jafa.