BRDL 33

2/25/22 - BLJA- Blue Jay

This puzzle reminds me of why I shouldn't always go right to the book when I can't come up with a bird that fits. I had the 'BL' but couldn't come up with a 'black' or 'blue' bird that would fit. How can I forget the blue jay? Admittedly, they haven't been around my feeder much this winter, but I realize now that it's because the platform feeder isn't out this year (the squirrels finally got to the baffle, and I never got around to replacing it)

Learned a few things about them today -- their fondness for oak acorns, the fact that no one really knows how or when or why they migrate, the fact that their blue color is really brown melanin, that is refracted through special feathers, and their proclivity for 'anting' - a term I had never heard before, but involves picking ants up, rubbing them on their feathers, and then eating them.

I've always thought them to be pretty majestic, if a little loud.