Spinningjay

You’ve heard of the movie “Mockingjay“, well, this is “Spinningjay”… I was out at the Pedernales Falls State Park bird blind with a friend of mine recently when I spotted this very nice looking Western Scrub Jay sitting on a tree stump when he suddenly jumped in the air and spun around.  I happen to capture the image before and during his spin move. He’s not missing his tail, it just has not caught up with him yet.

I’ve posted a few images of Western Scrub Jays and I watch them intently while at the bird blinds. They are very disruptive birds! They tend to bully other birds around and they dominate the feeding area. The only bird I’ve seen that can run them off are Northern Cardinals. They seem to be able to hold their own against them. They also have a mischievous streak, and they’re not above outright theft. They’ve been caught stealing acorns from Acorn Woodpecker caches and robbing seeds and pine cones from Clark’s Nutcrackers. They even seem aware of their guilt: some scrub-jays steal acorns they’ve watched other jays hide. When these birds go to hide their own acorns, they check first that no other jays are watching. They also chase my dogs…

This image was taken with my Canon EOS 5DS using my Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Sports Lens on 250 mm. The camera was set on Aperture priority mode with the aperture set at f/5.6, shutter speed at 1/400 and the ISO set at ISO 3200.

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© 2015 T. Kahler Photography