Nature Photography

During the last few days of fall, trees ablaze with brilliant yellow, red and orange leaves, some of my favorite birds showed up: The Jays. Blue Jays, Scrub Jays, even a couple of Stellar’s Jays (at least, I could hear them…never actually saw those guys.) I know the ultimate bait for Jays….the bait they cannot resist, the bait they will return again and again and again for, day after day: PEANUTS! So, I set up a little trap. A stump, shrouded by the colors of fall, and a cornucopia of tasty peanuts.

Blue Jay Portrait – With Crest

The most hilarious thing about Jays? They try to be all sneaky, silently flitting about through the trees to sneak up upon the coveted peanut…then half the time they jeer or jay and make a big ruckus and out themselves just before they go in for the kill. 😉 Makes my job so easy. Of course, every year, one or two ends up learning that I’m watching, and it then seems to become a game…how many peanuts can he steal without me clicking off my camera. ;D At the beginning, this guy was all kinds of noisy…by the end, he was a deadly silent peanut killer!