Blue Jay

Finally one of these beautiful birds sat still long enough for me to photograph!  Blue is my favorite color so I love seeing them.  I've been hesitant to try to attract them to my yard, though,  because they are so noisy.  Not a problem now but I like my windows open on summer nights. I found some interesting facts about them on allaboutbirds.org that I have pasted below:

The Blue Jay frequently mimics the calls of hawks, especially the Red-shouldered Hawk. These calls may provide information to other jays that a hawk is around, or may be used to deceive other species into believing a hawk is present.

Tool use has never been reported for wild Blue Jays, but captive Blue Jays used strips of newspaper to rake in food pellets from outside their cages.

Blue Jays lower their crests when they are feeding peacefully with family and flock members or tending to nestlings.

The pigment in Blue Jay feathers is melanin, which is brown. The blue color is caused by scattering light through modified cells on the surface of the feather barbs.

And....as always, this looks better large.