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Project Noah Nature School
Cyanocitta stelleri
This beautiful jay has a dark crest, head and back. Wings and rest of body is a rich blue. Legs, feet, and bill are black. Eyebrow is white.
Conifer forests ranging from Alaska south and into Mexico.
Spotted on May 31, 2012
Submitted on Jun 6, 2012
13 Comments
A lovely bird indeed! The subspecies here in northwest Oregon don't have the white eyebrow marks (although a few have very thin white forehead streaks).
Fantastic!
Hermosa ave!!
Christy, This guy had a pretty big crest, but maybe it is laid down somewhat or perhaps the angle is wrong to see how big it is? This bird would be, at minimum, about an year old.
I love the colour of the bird! It is so pretty.
Stellar's jays are such a brilliant pretty blue!
Indeed beautiful Gordon!
What a beautiful spotting! Great photo! Gordon, I wonder if you've got a juvenile? His crest doesn't seem quite as big as normal either. Here's my spotting: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/939...
He has 4 stripes on the head...and a tall, spiky crest...
Ah, you beat me to the research part. I was not aware that the Pacific birds lacked these markings. I learned something as well! Thanks.
I wonder if it is a local variation in coloration. If one does a Google search on Steller's Jay images there seems to a lot of variation in whether they have the eyebrow stripe, or at least how conspicuous it is.
These are truly beautiful .
Just looked it up, and saw that interior Stellar's Jays have those white brows, while Pacific ones (where I'm originally from) have blue/black markings in same place. Thanks for showing me something new about my favorite bird!
That's a great shot! My favorite bird, and I've never seen one with the white brow.