Just about anywhere east of the Rockies, Blue Jays can be found. These bright blue crested birds are so completely commonplace, we sometimes forget just how gorgeous they are.
     I have an ancient bird book full of eloquent descriptions — even the black on a crow is described as “overlaid with a gloss of metallic violet.”  Looking up the Blue Jay, I found this: “Crown (including crest), hind-neck, back, shoulders, and rump are plain dull campanula blue…”
     Campanula blue! (I had to look that up, too!) Campanula — aside from being a lot of fun to say — is a name for “bellflowers” which are apparently “light purplish blue that is deeper than lupine, and bluer than periwinkle.” The blue in a Blue Jay also includes shades of azure and cobalt, too.
     The Blue Jay seems to have cornered the market on blue. These bright hues, along with vivid touches in black and white, are woven together into a cloak and pointed cap worn over a breast of gray; underneath, the bird is immaculate white. Around the neck is draped a Florentine necklace of black. Male and female Blue Jays are dressed alike and both are quite proud of their fabulous outfits!
     The Blue Jay was perhaps the first North American bird to become well known to Europeans, as they were already painting portraits of the bird in the sixteenth century.
     It’s not only the bird’s appearance, of course, but the way it carries on — a rowdy, insolent jay in the yard is impossible to overlook. Blue Jays are cousins to the crow, and sadly display all the disreputable family traits.
     At times, they seem to denounce themselves, calling “Thieve, thieve, thieve” to all who will listen. Another, more musical call is a flute-like rendition of peep-hole, peep-hole.
     Blue Jays are omnivorous, eating everything from spiders to fruit, but most of their diet is seeds and nuts, with emphasis on the acorns. They also like beechnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, hickory nuts, and pecans.
     A Blue Jay can carry five big nuts at a time: two or three are piled in the throat, another is held in the mouth, and one more is clamped in the bill. Thus encumbered, they somehow manage to fly without choking. Reaching some chosen hideaway, they spit the nuts into a pile and then bury them one by one under leaves, pebbles, or such. Many an oak tree owes its existence to the secretive habits of jays.
     Notorious for robbing the nests of other birds, Blue Jays eagerly eat the eggs and young. Despite a wealth of evidence, these crimes must be rare, for other birds form less than 2% of a Blue Jay’s diet.
     In addition to all the other things they eat, they’re famous for loving dog food. In fact, these birds are so fond of human society and convenience food, they’re more often found in town than in the country.
     Fearless birds, they often work in groups to intimidate a predator, and they seem to harbor a special hatred for Great Horned Owls.
     Blue Jays also have a rollicking good sense of humor, a fondness for mischief, and a touch of backyard charm.
     A poem composed by one James Whitcomb Riley may just sum it up:

Mr. Blue Jay, full o’ sass,
        In them baseball clothes of his,
     Sportin’ round the orchard jes’
        Like he owned the premises.

I agree with Mr. Riley. No bird is quite so audacious, in color and character both, than the extraordinary, everyday jay.