Finally A Blue Jay

If you look closely at these two pictures you can see a bird right in the center of each. The bird is a Blue Jay. Neither of these pictures are very close to the best blue jay pictures you'll ever see, but I don't care right now. This is still a huge accomplishment for me.

You see, I have been chasing blue jays since the beginning of spring, and up until now I've had absolutely nothing to show for it. These pictures may not be much but they're the very best I've been able to do up till now. Always before I've had a few blue blurs, and a few near misses, but no actual identifiable pictures.

I've seen plenty of them flying by me on the forest paths, but they always seem to elude me. The first time I saw one, it flew past me into the bushes. I saw it standing there on the branches, but the camera decided it was time to see only green. I guess blue was too much for it.

There were other times where one would fly quickly by me, almost within reach, and the rotten blue bird would just as quickly fly off into the distance. One of those times I watched as the bird landed on a tree just out of reach of the eyes of the camera. In the picture there was a small dark dot instead of this bright blue bird.

Another time there was a bird that flew in front of me on the trail. It kept landing in the trees just behind branches so I couldn't get a picture. As I would get close, it would fly a little farther away only to repeat what it did before. I'm sure it was teasing me. When I did finally get the pictures, they came out as eye jarring blurs! Aarrggg!!!

Now you get a hint at the feeling of accomplishment I have at getting these not so good pictures of a blue jay. This is actually the fourth one I saw on this very same path. These birds seem to be everywhere I go, but they are some of the most elusive creatures for me. I'm still feeling pretty frustrated, but right now that feeling is mixed with a great deal of satisfaction. Ahh progress! I love it.