Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)A common enough bird here in the US (especially in New England), I had just been commenting to my wife on the fact that I'd never managed to get a photo of a Blue Jay that I liked. Moments later, she says, "Well, there's one on the ground right there" and sure enough, there was a beautiful adult Blue Jay on the ground not 20 feet from us. The moment I grabbed my camera, and turned the lens in it's direction, it did something I didn't quite expect. It spread out it's right wing and nestled down in the grass. Odd! My first thought was that this was a "broken-wing" display that I've seen Killdeer use to distract predators away from a nest, but I'd never seen a Blue Jay do it. I shot a few photos, took a step closer, took another few, took another step, knelt down, and still the bird did not move - just looked at me with it's beak wide open. Now I was starting to get nervous that perhaps the bird really was injured and I started to think about where I could bring it, and as I straightened up from my crouching photographer position - it stood up as well - I swear it winked at me, then turned and flew off - with two other jays that had been above our heads the entire time. This bird had totally played me and I fell for it!
Before I left, I did check to make sure they didn't take my wallet. Sneaky little corvids - I wouldn't put it past them!
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