I have noticed a lot of Blue Jays in the area and around my house lately, they are beautiful birds but elusive to grab a close-up photo. This particular guy was on my deck one morning and I had to shoot the picture through my sliding patio door glass which is obviously not preferable for image quality but the picture still came out quite well.

The Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) is a passerine bird and a member of the family Corvidae native to North America. The Blue Jay is adaptable, aggressive, omnivorous and has been colonizing new habitats for many decades. The Blue Jay can be found from southern Canada through the eastern and central USA south to Florida and northeastern Texas. Blue Jays can make a large variety of sounds and individuals may vary perceptibly in their calling style. Like other corvids, they may learn to mimic human speech. Blue Jays can also copy the cries of local hawks so well that it is sometimes difficult to tell which is which. For more info on Blue Jays, click here.

On a side note, lets hope the Toronto Blue Jays do better next year…

It was warm this morning so I went out for a quick drive hoping I might see some deer but struck out on that. I did however catch this Blue Jay on Humber Station in northern part of Caledon. I would have liked to have gotten a closer shot but this was the best I could do this morning. Photo was enhanced with the program Photomatix to bring out the colours a little bit better of the Blue Jay and reduce the ugly cloudy sky. Click on the image for a large photo. On a semi-related note, spring training for the Toronto Blue Jays is already under way, Go Jays Go!