Blue Jays Through the Window

Blue Jays are common enough in my area and their raucous calling can be heard frequently about the woodlands. Being quite the birdfeeder bullies most other species flee the feeders upon their arrival.

As boisterous and aggressive as they are they are also the species among the regular feeder visitors least tolerant of human presence. In my attempts to get close-up photographs of them this winter I have been thwarted by them at every turn.

With this weekend’s heavy snow covering their natural feed a few of the Jays seemed to be less cautious than normal and began visiting our deck feeder with me and my camera set up just inside our kitchen window. Most feeder visits consisted of the Jay landing directly in the feeder, grabbing a beak full of sunflower seeds and departing to an of sight perch with out giving me the opportunity to photograph it against an attractive background

Finally this bird landed where I was able to utilize the shadows cast by trees across the snowy hillside beyond to create a pleasing out of focus background.