Field Notes: STELLER'S JAY

Steller's Jay are beautiful birds. Their heads are black to dark gray, and the rest of the body is mostly a dark blue of varying shades. They have a crest similar to the Blue Jay. They are found in stretches of western North America between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. As can be seen in this photo, some of the birds further inland have white eye brows.

They are a common species in their area, but I was lucky to capture an image of one. In one of the last stops I made driving through the Rocky Mountains I saw a Steller's Jay flying around a tree near the parking lot. It was mostly sticking to dark and shadowed areas of the tree. But it came out into the light for just a moment, long enough for me to capture one or two images before the Jay flew off.