Blue Jays

Thank goodness for the blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata)! They are beautiful, loud and cantankerous and they tell me (sometimes) where the hawks are.

*Blue jay, Central Park, January 17, 2023*

*Blue getting clean (hygiene is so important), Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, April 8, 2023*

These blue jays were photographed in Central Park in March 2023.

The photos in this slideshow were taken in Central Park in April and May 2020.

There is one blue jay, probably born in 2015, that comes to your hand for peanuts. If you don't have peanuts, you get squawked at. And the jay prefers peanuts in the shell to peanuts out of the shell. I didn't take this shot — it was taken by the remarkable Melody Andres in November 2015. That is, however, my hand. You can see Melody's work on Flickr by following Redtail10025 (my Flickr account is Pmsaga, of course!).

*Crazy Jay on my hand, Nov. 4, 2015. Photo by Melody Andres*

These four photos are from 2013.