Blue Jay
Cyanocitta cristata
Blue Jay · Staten Island · 5 July 2026
A Blue Jay on Staten Island in July, a bird of the eastern woods and every suburb in them, and one of the loudest things in a summer wood.
The blue is structural rather than pigmented; there is no blue pigment in a jay's feathers at all, and a crushed feather looks brown. Blue Jays are also accomplished mimics of Red-shouldered Hawk calls, a trick thought to help clear other birds off a feeder or a berry patch.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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