The Colouful Jay.

[John 2]

Can't compete with some of the more exotic birds posted here but these are one of the few large colourful garden birds we see in the UK. Not particularly rare but not seen often around here. Then just like buses, having waited for ages, two appear at once.

Fuji X plus 100-400mm
1.


2.

[Shadowman]

Nice set.

[IzzieK]

We have blue jays around my yard. They are noisy and I think I read that they mate for life. This is pretty pinkish. Cute bird. You captured them both well. No preference.

Having your lost your poetic mind somewhere, you now compare a birdie to a bus, huh? (Thanks for the morning laugh, John...I will remember this all day today..)

[chauncey]

Ya done good with both of them.

[bnnrcn]

Nice shots John

[Wavelength]

Soooo.....beautiful

[Geoff F]

Well done on photographing a Jay. I've seen plenty but never even managed a poor quality shot. They are such nervous birds when there is any sign of people around.

[marlunn]

Nice images John, for corvids they are awfully shy birds aren't they? I think I have one or two shots of them but thats all.

[Dave A]

Really like that first image. So sharp and great background control.

Dave

[Bob44]

Great work on these Jay photos! I like them both, especially the first photo with the dark backgound.

[bje07]

As Robert I really like # 1, very sharp plumage.

[JBW]

You're oh so wrong. These Jays would be a bonus in any yard And you captured them beautifully!

[FootLoose]

It is always interesting to see the birds that are regular visitors to backyards around the world. Sometimes it seems 'nature' just goes crazy with the paint brush and slaps colours on quite randomly.

[JohnRostron]

These are gorgeous pics of gorgeous birds. I remember the comedian and ornithologist Bill Oddie once saying that when people started telling him about this exotic bird they'd seen in their garden, he would always interrupt them by saying "it's a Jay". And it always was.

John

[John 2]

Thanks all for the comments. The first image was captured in a local woodland hence the BG. I was quite pleased to have captured one but the very next morning, the second one appeared in the Back garden. Luckily, I still had the long lens attached to the Fuji and caught it through the (closed) bedroom window. They are shy birds. Just like Pheasant, annoyingly, they move with you to stay just out of range.

[JohnRostron]

I said that these are gorgeous birds, but their nest-raiding habits make them unpopular with other birds. A few years ago we had a pair of Jays and a pair of Blackbirds both trying to nest in our garden. The Blackbirds would not leave the Jays alone. In the end, neither nested!

John

[John 2]

They're also like Magpies. In the spring, they will often go after nestlings rather than their normal diet of acorns etc.