The Rare Blue-Tailed Hawk

No, of course this isn't a hawk, silly! Nor is it rare. It is, in fact, a very common Blue Jay, doing his best imitation of a raptor.

I was hoping to give you a raptor shot today, but it didn't quite work out. We attended a very interesting presentation on winter raptors at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge and were able to see some beautiful owls and hawks, but the light conditions were horrible and none of my pictures turned out particularly good - especially considering that these were all tethered birds! After the presentation, we headed out to one of the marsh areas to see if we could see some short-eared owls, but it was so cold that we didn't stay long. I did post one shot of a red-tailed hawk HERE.

Fortunately, I spent a little time outside this morning with the blue jays and got some fun shots, including this one. My other favorite blue jay from today is this one spraying snow around his head after snatching a peanut. This morning the temp was a very cold -3 F (-19 C) and it only warmed up to about 15 F, so it was another day where a built-in down coat came in handy - lots of puffy birds.

Thanks for the lovely comments on yesterday's fluffy junco. Much appreciated!

By the way, the white beans and spinach didn't turn out very well at all - I was very disappointed. I think it was the damned Tofurkey I added - that stuff is nasty business.

Happy Saturday!

Debbi