Posted by Mel Ladewig on November 16, 2007 at 6:42 PM
I couldn't get exactly the right pose from this bird, but I still like the palette in this shot. We have alot of these Bluebirds plus some Stellar Jays and normal Blue Jays in the backyard right now.
XT, 70-300 IS at 300, 430EX
Posted by Les Barstow on November 16, 2007 at 7:44 PM
Mel - is that a Bluebird, or a Western Scrub-jay? Looks more like the latter...
Posted by Pam Colander on November 16, 2007 at 9:02 PM
That's a real nice capture of a camera shy scrubjay. Put out peanuts for 'em and snap away at their antics.
pam
Posted by Mel Ladewig on November 16, 2007 at 9:06 PM
It could be a Scrub Jay, I'm not really familiar with them. I have to admit, my bird reference library is rather thin, consisting of exactly zero books. I thought that since there was no pointy feather clump on the the back of the head it was a bluebird.
Posted by Mel Ladewig on November 16, 2007 at 9:09 PM
That's a real nice capture of a camera shy scrubjay. Put out peanuts for 'em and snap away at their antics.
Pam, I'd be happy to do that if you'll fend off the bears. We put out a bird feeder the first summer we lived here. The next day there were 3 bears on the back step.
If you like these scrub jays, please come shoot them in our back yard. They are here all the time and are not shy in the least.
Mel-
Posted by Les Barstow on November 16, 2007 at 10:38 PM
Heh. Had that problem with bears when we moved in, too. If you put the food out after sunrise and take it in well before sunset, you should be good except maybe in the fall. In winter, you can put out food practically all day with little worry about hibernating bears.
BTW - For ID purposes, Bluebirds come in two varieties around here. The Western Bluebird has orange on the breast (lots if it's male, usually just a bit of buff if it's female...); the Mountain Bluebird male is electric blue in a way that even a bright scrub-jay can't match - caused by refraction of blue light - while the female is relatively plain gray with some blue highlights). Both are slightly smaller than a Robin, where the scrub-jay is a bit larger.
Posted by Pam Colander on November 16, 2007 at 11:45 PM
Thanks Mel but I'll pass on the shooing the bears thing. When we move to Trinidad we will have the bears to contend with. We have lots of scrubjays in our yard too. Here's one of our peanut grabbers.
Pam
Posted by Gabi Lach on November 17, 2007 at 10:26 AM
Mel, you are funny showing us a bluebird that is looking in the opposite dirrection. Maybe he was too shy to get photographed. :-) But I agree that the color palette is pretty cool!
Pam, your photo is awesome! I love it!
Discussion
7 repliesXT, 70-300 IS at 300, 430EX
pam
Pam, I'd be happy to do that if you'll fend off the bears. We put out a bird feeder the first summer we lived here. The next day there were 3 bears on the back step.
If you like these scrub jays, please come shoot them in our back yard. They are here all the time and are not shy in the least.
Mel-
BTW - For ID purposes, Bluebirds come in two varieties around here. The Western Bluebird has orange on the breast (lots if it's male, usually just a bit of buff if it's female...); the Mountain Bluebird male is electric blue in a way that even a bright scrub-jay can't match - caused by refraction of blue light - while the female is relatively plain gray with some blue highlights). Both are slightly smaller than a Robin, where the scrub-jay is a bit larger.
Pam
Pam, your photo is awesome! I love it!