Friday, October 18, 2019

Blue Jay (Geai bleu)

     I glanced out the window a little while ago and there were two Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) feeding on the suet. They were bathed in sunlight, and looked nothing short of breathtaking.


     I did not happen to have my camera at the ready, but that matters little since we have an entire archive of Blue Jay images.
     It is quite common here and can become agreeably confiding around humans, and the backyard duo this morning reinforced for me the level of good fortune that we are able to spend our lives with such enigmatic creatures.



     Furthermore they are found throughout the province and we have shared our day with Blue Jays in many regions of Ontario.
     On our visits to Algonquin Provincial Park in the winter what can be more agreeable than to have Blue Jays keep us company?


     A little snack is all that is needed to draw them in close and I have no doubt that they appreciate the treat!



     There are many things in life to be thankful for. Keeping company with Blue Jays is certainly one of them.


     I think I will go and make a coffee and sit and watch to see if the backyard duo return.


      The coffee will taste all the better for their company!
David M. Gascoigne,
David M. Gascoigne,

I'm a life long birder. My interests are birds, nature, reading, books, outdoors, travel, food and wine.

66 comments:

  1. How charming. One greeted me as I left the house yesterday, but he flew away. He seemed surprised that I was living here too...they do seem to rule the territory.

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  2. I don't think I would ever tire of seeing such striking birds no matter how frequent they might be. I regularly see a pair of Eurasian Jays just outside my window, rather quarrelsome birds though undoubtedly handsome.

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  3. Hari OM
    A delight to the eye, no question! I hope your coffee moment yielded fine results. YAM xx

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  4. Qué gran café amigo David en compañía de tan bellos ejemplares, estoy seguro que despertar y contemplar tan bellas estampas poco más podemos desear para que sea un gran día. Seguramente fue un gran café.
    Un fuerte abrazo mi querido amigo y compadre David. Te deseo un buen fin de semana.

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  5. To be able to sit and watch the Blue Jay's from your window, is priceless. The birds in this post are beautifully photographed. Enjoy your day, David.

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  6. Beautiful bird! So colorful, so charming!

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  7. David, this is my favoritebird. I love the blue color. Very beautiful photos!

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  8. The bird has an incredibly beautiful color!

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  9. Oh David, that's my favorite bird in Canada!
    The flight feathers and tail are beautiful! The blue one looks like our kingfisher.
    What a pretty face.
    Kisses from France and see you soon.
    ps: You're lucky to be back in Australia! I would like to go back in autumn, the summer is too hot and there are fewer birds.

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    1. You are right, Nathalie, summer in Australia is way too hot. I will be there in winter when the temperature should be just about perfect for me. Some of the migrants will nit be there, but no season has all the birds so it's always a bit of a compromise.

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  10. O what a beauties. Thanks for sharing this birds on the www. I have never seen them. So nice blue.

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  11. They are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing! :)

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  12. What absolute charmers. It is a little after dawn here, and I have been revelling in a family of crimson rosellas feasting on the apple we put out. The background music is a currawong chorus. I love them, but would also love to see your blue jays. Thank you so much.

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  13. A beautiful bird David. Your photos are stunning!

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  14. Querido David es un ave muy hermosa, sus colores son increíbles. Me alegra saber que puedes disfrutar de su compañía y a su vez tomarte un café, sin duda todo un lujo. Las fotos son espectaculares. Un enorme abrazo.

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  15. What an exquisite little bird the Blue Jay is - lovely shades of blue which are greatly enhanced by the pure white chest feathers.
    A lovely little visitor for you to enjoy in your garden with or without the coffee.

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  16. Hi David.

    This is a beautiful bird.
    Super nice color.
    Beautiful pictures.

    Greetings from Patricia.

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  17. Mooie serie van de Gaai, prachtige kleuren heeft deze vogel, het kan een echte rover zijn.
    Groet Kees.

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  18. Vilken förtjusande liten fågel, tänk att få det stora nöjet att sitta vid fönstret och njuta av denna vackra uppenbarelse. Jag tror mig se vissa likheter mellan fågeln och våra vanliga mesar (Great Tit, Blue Tit) så visst måste det finnas ett släktskap här?

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    1. They are members of different families, Gunilla. Blue Tit is in the Parulidae and Blue Jay in the Corvidae.

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  19. Hello David, I do not mind keeping company with the Blue Jays or any bird. Your have a great collection of Blue Jay photos. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend! PS, thank for leaving me a comment.

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  20. Blue Jay looks gorgeous! Unfortunately this beauty does not live in Finland.

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    1. Hi David,
      It was so lovely that you linked this beautiful post to Friday Bliss. But when I try to open your link (with Safari or Firefox), there comes a note that there is some kind of security risk. I don't know why, I don't know much about technics. But I thought to inform you. Happy Sunday!

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    2. I have no idea, Ritta. It is perhaps a standard message that pops up, I really don't know.

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  21. Nice pictures of this beautiful Jay... Regards..

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  22. Estos pájaros son preciosos, me encanta verlos. Un beso.

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  23. They are so pretty and of course fab photos.

    We are having a great time. Went birding yesterday and saw 58 different species. Many I had never heard of let alone seen before!

    Hope all well, best wishes Diane

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    1. Good to hear from you, Diane. Are you already in RSA?

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  24. Beautiful beautiful bird!!I have never seen such one and what apleasure!!Birds give me such happiness :)They are really cute and interesting to be with..even the little sparrows and the crows and the mallards is great to be with..I have just been out feeding then today..They soo happy for a little bread..and now when all the seagulls has gone hunting another place we can really be quiet and just enjoy silence in nature and birds(Not that i dont like seagull but sometimes there is ssssoo much of them here were I live

    Thank you for showing this beautiful creature!You should make a poster of some of them

    Enjoy coffe and have a happy weekend with love ones and family :)

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  25. One of my favorite backyard birds. "The Sentinel".

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  26. That's a beautiful photo with snow in the background! A cup of coffee and bird watching sounds very enjoyable!

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  27. Stunning photos David. The feather details are amazing! We used to see blue jays regularly when living in the northeast. They must not like the heat since they have not been showing up this far south.

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  28. Always envious to see such beautiful creatures, when I think of our drab little birds. Then I should be grateful that we have a few who still exist here, in Shropshire, there are so few. We do have the kingfisher, of course, described so beautifully in B.B.'s children's book 'The Little Grey Men,' but I have rarely seen one.

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  29. Aren’t they just the most beautiful shade of blue? I love it when they leave me a feather or two under the feeder. I have a little collection in a tiny glass.

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  30. Hi
    This kind is not here with us, beautiful to marvel at you, great pictures
    Greetings Frank

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  31. When we lived in Colorado for 50+ years before retiring to the coast, we had these beauties at our window feeders a lot! Now, here in the south, no blue jays. GLORIOUS images David. (Did you know that their feathers are really brown, not blue?)

    For registering your link to this post for us birders at I'd Rather B Birdin' this week, I thank you. Have a spectacular day.

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  32. Hi David,
    This kind of blue jays certainly looks great. You are lucky to see this kind in your garden. With us there is a kind of jays, the Eurasian jay, that looks beautiful but its reputation could be better. In a way it is a predator, a threat for young birds and eggs. In forests it is a guard, warning when there is something going on that they don't like.
    Greetings, Kees

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  33. They really are a wonderfully plumaged bird, David, and your third image shows that plumage magnificently. How lucky you are to have them as a relatively common species, and that they tend to be confiding - unlike our own Jays here in UK, which are exceedingly nervous birds!

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  34. It's clear the blue jays have discovered yours is friendly territory. I'm sure they appreciate the seeds, especially when there's snow on the ground.

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  35. I agree with Richard, above. The few I spotted on PEI were constantly on the move. I would have loved them to rest long enough for me to fully enjoy their beauty.

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  36. Hi David. You are fortunate indeed to have a friendly and confiding species of crow. As you know, all of our crows are shot at and viewed as villains, even the fairly harmless Jackdaw. Consequently it is almost impossible get photos of any species of crow in the UK. Occasionally one might come across an individual that has is partly amenable, but not very often.

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  37. Oh David!
    These birds are wonderful. I see them for the first time.
    The shade of blue is beautiful.
    Thank you so much that I could meet these birds.
    Have a nice week, David.

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  38. Sounds like a perfect way to spend your time, what beautiful birds they are.

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  39. Great photos! Blue Jay is one of my favorites we also have them here year round, and I can't imagine life without their weird sounds and they playful harmony.

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  40. It IS a beautiful bird and you images are gorgeous. I have seen it a couple of times on my travels. :)

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  41. Friend David, having a coffee before such a beautiful show is a gift, thank you for sharing it, because seeing these Blue Jays is wonderful, it is a beautiful bird.
    Miriam is an artist, the photos are beautiful!
    Many kisses.

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  42. A deeply satisfying and gorgeous post. I own a wonderful Blue Jay nest that was rescued intact from under the eaves of a house being torn down. It is a work of art.

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  43. Hello David, Oh what a beautyful bird this is and I am so glad for you that you had two of them in your garden. They must have enjoyed your garden, and perhaps they will come back and stay untill Spring. Than you can have a lot of coffees to enjoy while watching them.
    Regards,
    Roos

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  44. Hello David .. we have a tiny regular mob ? of Blue Jays that can rival any crow intelligence at any time. They have trained us well with the peanuts we supply them .. in fact they have "encouraged" us to consider that we had to "adjust" our feeding apparatus to suit the time when snow would make access a problem on our deck .. smart, beautiful birds letting us know how privileged we truly are in getting to "know" them so up close and personal.

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  45. I agree with you. Even in photos the Blue Jays are beautiful.

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  46. Bellissime fotografie.
    Buon inizio settimana.

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  47. I know they are supposedly scrappy birds but blue jays are one of my very favorites and I always feel a bit "honored" if I see one by the feeder. And like I had a special gift if I find a feather in the yard. They're gorgeous.

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  48. They are such beautiful birds. The pattern of their feathers always makes me wonder if some of our Native Americans were thinking of these birds when they created their elegant woven patterns way back when.

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  49. super photos! How large are these blue jays? The only ones that I am familiar with a huge mountain jays here in the mountains of California. They are large and aggressive.

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  50. Just beautiful photos! We get a lot of blue jays here in NJ, especially since we keep feeders out in the backyard. The best treat of all was when they made a nest in a tree on our property and I was able to get close-up photos of one of the babies.

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  51. Hi David,
    sooo beautiful, these blue jays. Wonderful series you show us here, especially the first and last one. I envy you, watching these birds in your garden while sipping your coffee. Enjoy!

    Best regards, Corrie

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  52. Such beautiful looking birds, and your photographs are stunning.

    All the best Jan

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  53. What a beauty! I would have loved to have it in the garden!

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  54. I adore bluejays. As it happens, they're one bird I can attract to my balcony with peanuts in the shell, which the pigeons push around but can't vacuum up like they do other seed. Every November they disappear, presumably because natural food like acorns is so readily available. Then, they're back. I'm certain I've had the same individuals for at least three years, and there's no question when they're feeding babies. My peanut bill doubles for a couple of months.

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  55. Hello David,
    gohhhhh ...... we had such a beautiful Jay in the Netherlands.
    This Jay is really beautiful with his beautiful blue color and his drawing. It is and remains a great beautiful bird :-)
    Dear greetings

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  56. There is no Blue Jay in Europe. For me it is very beautifull bird.
    Last picture is excellent! Very good light!

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  57. Stunning David - love the photos and those colours ... just beautiful ... cheers Hilary

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