Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The Elusive Blue Jay

Some days it's hard to make myself go out to a nature park. It's not for any reason other than there is so much nature right outside my door. Just the other day I was sitting out front with my camera and this blue jay came flying over for me to take a few dozen pictures.

I can't tell you how hard it was to narrow the good pictures down to three. I had a dozen until just before I wrote this post. I chose these three because they each had a special quality I thought was good for sharing.

It was such a strange occurrence for me when this blue jay came over because I've almost never had any luck getting pictures of them in the past. In years past I've documented right here on this blog my feeble attempts at getting pictures of these birds. I still remember one time how I was so excited to get one terrible picture of a blue jay's tail.

This bird in my pictures today just flew over and landed on the road in front of me. It was like it wanted me to see it there. It didn't take long before it flew up onto the branch it's perching on here. I knew even then that I was going to get my pictures.

I did have to get up off my chair to move to a better position. The Sun isn't always my friend out there. I had to walk over to the middle of the road to begin taking my pictures. The blue jay sat there really nicely letting me take all the pictures I wanted.

So it seems that the blue jays in Iowa are either friendlier than those in Michigan or they just personally like me better. Whatever the real reason, I'm glad this one bird was so patient.

I'm just glad there wasn't the big chase I would have had in the past. It was always so hard to follow these birds for what seemed like hours only to come away with absolutely nothing. I can't even remember the sheer amount of times I went home frustrated, even though I had plenty of other good pictures.

But that's all changed now. I have a feeling my luck has now changed with these birds. Now if only the rain we've been having would let up so I can go back out and get some more pictures. It's looking like Thursday will be the only good day for a couple of weeks. I'll have to make sure I don't miss it. Talk to you next time.

18 comments:

  1. Nice post as usual Ratty. Glad to see the photos coming steady now :)

    Lovely pictures of this Blue Jay- these birds are just stunning!

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    1. I hope my posts stay this steady for a long time.

      I tried to comment on your new posts the other day but I had some difficulty with all the Google+ stuff. I'll give it another try.

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  2. Great post, fantastic photos:) Greetings

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  3. Thanks for the Bird TV today! Or perhaps I should thank the blue jay!

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    1. I hope to have a lot of Bird TV coming in the future. Birds seem to like it around here.

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  4. Ratty, fantastic shots and how lucky this little guy came to visit and pose for you.

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    1. I couldn't believe how lucky I was when he stayed for pictures.

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  5. Hello! What a beautiful photos!

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    1. Thank you. Your photography is much more impressive than mine.

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  6. Put out peanuts for the jays....they LOVE them and will give you many opportunities for good photos.

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    1. I'll definitely try the peanuts. I've tried to feed the birds before but they don't ever seem to like my feeders.

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  7. Hello! I do not agree with You .Your photos are more informative than my photos!

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    1. We'll agree to disagree. Anyone who has seen your photos knows how good they are.

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  8. lovely photos of blue jays, and yes, when we do not look for them, they look for us :) haha, just love to think that way :)

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  9. I agree- blue jays just don't like to have their picture taken. I have a few terrible shots. Nice job. Hope this one stays friendly for you.

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    1. I haven't seen any again. Maybe this one was just bored.

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