The Blue Jay

No brigadier throughout the year
So civic as the jay,
A neighbor and a warrior too,
With shrill felicity...
- Emily Dickinson

Most of my early mornings are spent with birds and squirrels. They’re either perched on feeders eating, waiting in the surrounding lilac trees, or, like this Jay, squawking for the snack bowl to appear that’s filled with shelled nuts and acorns collected last fall. The squirrels sneak in between the Jays and the Titmice. All scoot away with their prize and continue the back and forth until the bowl is empty.