Baby Blue Jays

Christopher found a fledgling blue jay (or two) outside this morning, and I had fun photographing them and watching Momma and Poppa take care of the little one.  I took over 100 photos trying to get some good ones!  It is really hard to take zoomed in photos of little birds who move fast and don't want to you get too close.  Here are some of the pictures I took.

Momma Jay checking on Baby

"Whatchoo looin' at?"

Calling for his parents.

Blue Jays seem to be a little more protective of their fledglings than Cardinals or Robins. Last year, when the robins left their nest, I don't remember seeing the parents nearby, and when we rescued the baby cardinals that fell out of their nest during a storm, the mom and dad were nearby, but kept their distance. With the blue jays, both parents were nearby and, whenever I got near the babies, they would yell at me and sometimes swoop low over my head. I also got to see one of them come in and feed this fledgling.

Poppa Bird telling me to keep away

I just love the colors!

Still calling a warning to me.

Here is a short video of one of the adults flying in to feed the fledgling.  I thought it was pretty cool. (I hope it works!)

Eventually, the fledgling hopped off the concrete pad and moved to the trees and bushes beyond the fence in the backyard. And because I followed, I got to see one of the bunnies that likes to visit our yard.

The bunny I saw.

There really were two fledglings, but it took the other one a lot longer to get to the bushes.  The first bird just hopped all the way back, but the second seemed to want to fly.  He kept trying to fly up the chain-link fence to the top of the wooden fence, but he couldn't make.  He did make it about halfway to the back, but then needed to take a nap on the chain-link fence, behind some leaves.  He finally made it back around 1pm, while the first made it back to the bushes about 9am.  I kept hearing the second fledgling on the side of the house, so I went to look for him.  I was afraid he might be trapped in the wheelbarrow or something.  Instead, I found him here, perched on the top of the chain-link fence.

Hanging out on the bike.