A New Generation

In May of 2007, on a delicious Sunday morning, two baby blue jays frolicked in our pond.  We spent the greater part of the morning watching them, as they tested their freedom, splashing and playing, without Mom.  Enjoy them as we did that morning. . .

Crash landing onto a lily pad . . .

Basking in the warm morning sun . . .

Checking out his reflection in the water . . . Who is that handsome creature looking back at me?

Resting in the shade of the Japanese maple tree . . . Playing is such hard work . . .

Striking a pose . . .

Hanging out with my Bubby pondside . . . May 2007

Fast forward to March 2012. Last weekend, as we enjoyed the unseasonable warmth on the back porch, we heard a plaintive sound coming from one of the maple trees that ring our back yard.   I've heard that sound from time to time in the last couple of weeks.  Curiosity took me to the site of the sound. All I saw was a pile of sticks, high in the tree.

As I stood watching the pile of sticks for signs of movement, a blue jay swooped to a nearby branch to watch me.

It was then I realized that the pile of sticks was a blue jay nest.  Not wishing to provoke the ire of the blue jay, I retreated to the porch. While Dad watched from the tree branch, Mom came back to the nest to sit on the eggs. It is she who makes the plaintive sound.

See her tail feathers hanging out over the edge of the nest?  She doesn't even fit all the way into the nest.

Tonight I heard a very faint sound coming from the nest, in a voice much tinier than Mom's.  I believe there may well be a new little blue jay living in that pile of sticks.

It's nice to think that maybe one of the babies who frolicked in the pond five years ago, has decided to nest and raise his or her young in our back yard.  I've learned that blue jays live an average of 7 years, with some living up to a whopping 17 years.  I am so hopeful a new generation of blue jays will descend to the pond to play again on a Sunday morning this spring.

Please check back from time to time.  I will let you know of developments in the pile of sticks in the tree.