A Guide to Birds: Exploring the Avian World

One of the loudest and most colorful birds of eastern back yards and woodlots, the Blue Jay is unmistakable. Intelligent and adaptable, it may feed on almost anything, and it is quick to take advantage of bird feeders. Besides their raucous jay! jay! calls, Blue Jays make a variety of musical sounds, and they can do a remarkable imitation of the scream of a Red-shouldered Hawk . Not always conspicuous, they slip furtively through the trees when tending their own nest or going to rob the nest of another bird.     ...N o doubt the Blue Jay was one of the first North American birds to become well known to Europeans. In the sixteenth century, John White made a watercolor illustration of this bird ( Feduccia 1989 ), and Linnaeus ( Linnaeus 1758a ) used the text and illustration of the “Blew Jay” (see  Feduccia 1989 ) by Catesby ( Catesby 1731 ) when he wrote what became the official description of the species. Behavior was ably if colorfully described by Alexander Wil...