This little scrub jay stopped by while we were eating our Boudin’s Bakery box lunches on Angel Island.
At first he stayed in the top of a nearby tree, then he got a little braver and came down to sit on the edge of a log next to our picnic table. At first he was unsure of the camera’s shutter sound (the 20D is quite loud), but he got used to it pretty fast.
Later he came even closer to collect crumbs from within a few feet of where we were sitting.
Updated: Changed blue jay to scrub jay following bloodnok‘s comment pointing out that this is a scrub jay and not a blue jay.
your feathered visitor was a scrub jay. amusing thieves. in the bay area, they share their niche with the stellar’s jay. usually, the scrub jay is more of a desert bird and the stellar’s jay a forest critter. i get both fighting over the morning’s peanut offerings on my balcony. it’s usually very difficult to get a good shot of either bird.
the blue jay is an eastern bird as in east of the rockies.