Cleanup squad.

Last time we blogged about these birds I incorrectly called them Blue Jays because that's a term my late father used to refer to them. Thanks Tim for the correction they are [European]Jay (Garrulus glandarius) Geai des Chênes, a member of the crow family.

They are normally a very timid bird and we usually see them some way from the house but back in February one came and checked out our feeders.

But now they are back in force and when they arrive they scatter the small birds normally under the feeders. This surprised us until we looked on the RSPB site which says they eat birds/chicks and eggs!! We know they like grapes as the year before last, when we had some, they cleared up what was left on the vines.

Thinking pose?

Group pose!

With them being so close it has been interesting watching the way they eat using their tongue to hold the seed before swallowing it.

Great colourful and entertaining birds.

Tempted Out of Hiding.

A sizeable portion of the food Colin puts out for the birds gets tossed to the ground due to the force and gusto with which the little birds attack the feeder and the bird table.

This spillage isn't wasted as it serves to nourish the ground feeders and the other day Colin noticed an addition to the usual band of ground feeders. The normally shy Jay had ventured into the middle of the lawn, in full view of the window, to partake of the feast..

Sadly Colin's camera was set up facing the opposite direction but I managed a few shots...

We were lucky enough to get a close up view of this beautiful bird before it saw us..

And was off in a flash of colour!