Blue Jay

Blue Jay aka. Jaybird
Peaks Island, Portland, Maine, USA
August 2016
Member of the Crow/Jay Family
§A Cast of Jays§
★The Provincial Bird of Prince Edward Island, Canada★

 ~true bird myth~ In old African American mythological traditions, the Blue Jay was thought to be in league with the devil. It was said that you wouldn't see a Blue Jay on a Friday because that was the day he was busy in hell, gathering sticks (for what purpose, who knows). Then, on Saturday, the Blue Jay was always in a very good mood and would be singing all day, due to the relief from, you know, not being in hell anymore. These pictures were taken on a... Tuesday, so I can neither confirm nor deny this theory.



~true bird fact~ Blue Jays are a member of the Corvid family, probably my favorite bird fam, and as such have all sorts of facts associated with how bright and inquisitive they are. They play with objects, use tools, and mimic the calls of other birds (either for communication or to scare others away). But that's not what I'm gonna talk about today, cause I feel like you've heard about most of those things before on this here blog. Let's talk about the color blue in a Blue Jay's feathers. Their coloring is unique in that it comes not from pigmentation, but because of light refracting on the crystalline structure of the feathers themselves. In other words, if you crush a Blue Jay's feathers, they lose their color completely. Neat!

Huge appetite, loves to eat. Never gains weight though, how annoying
Likes to take the contrarian opinion in arguments or debates, even if he doesn't feel that way. Finds this kind of verbal sparring entertaining
Thinks he might be a fish at heart
Popular with the ladies