{"id":127794,"date":"2024-04-22T02:43:05","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T07:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=127794"},"modified":"2024-04-22T17:07:49","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T22:07:49","slug":"blue-jay-portrait-with-a-glowing-background","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/04\/22\/blue-jay-portrait-with-a-glowing-background\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jay Portrait With A Glowing Background"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are times when I take a photo, upload it to my computer, open it to view it on my screen, and my breath gets taken away. This Blue Jay portrait did that.<\/p>\n

\"BlueBlue Jay portrait with a glowing background \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/500, ISO 2000, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The glowing background is a big part of the reason why I did a double take when I viewed this Blue Jay image.<\/p>\n

That glowing background? It is distant, out-of-focus pine straw being kissed by the early morning sunlight in my friend Steve Creek’s yard<\/span><\/a>. That spot is just one of several stands of pine in Steve’s yard.<\/p>\n

The beautiful background wasn’t the only thing that caught my eye in this photo. The eye of the jay, or rather the reflection in the jay’s eye, also teased my attention to look closer.<\/p>\n

I can see Steve’s house and trees on both sides of it in the reflection in this jay’s eye. I’m sure you all can see it too.<\/p>\n

Now I know that these jays are abundant in their range, and some people are quite used to them being around. For me? They are a joy, amusing, and wonderful to have in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

The story behind this Blue Jay portrait?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This Blue Jay was simply trying to get sunflower seeds from Steve’s feeder. It struggled to get those seeds because the Eastern Bluebirds that have chicks in the nearby nest box were dive-bombing this jay every time it went to get a sunflower seed. By that, I mean the bluebirds were smacking right into the jay’s head!<\/p>\n

The bluebird attacks have happened multiple times over a period of several days; it is no small wonder the jays are super skittish in Steve’s yard right now!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Blue Jay photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are times when I take a photo, upload it to my computer, open it to view it on my screen, and my breath gets taken away. This Blue Jay portrait did that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13950,27,13602,13951],"tags":[4004,211,13604,4142,3194,13603,13931,6072,6792,2714,4099,14923,4046,165,8018,13966],"class_list":["post-127794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arkansas","category-avian","category-blue-jays","category-sebastian-county","tag-adult","tag-background","tag-blue-jay","tag-close-up","tag-corvids","tag-cyanocitta-cristata","tag-garden","tag-glowing","tag-jay","tag-jays","tag-morning-light","tag-pine-straw","tag-portrait","tag-spring","tag-urban","tag-yard"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/blue-jay-pine-straw-sunlight-mia-mcpherson-8111.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-xfc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":128301,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/05\/07\/blue-jay-images-from-arkansas\/","url_meta":{"origin":127794,"position":0},"title":"Blue Jay Images From Arkansas","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a blast taking these Blue Jay images at Steve Creek's home in Arkansas. Soon after the bluebirds fledged, the jays felt safe to come into the feeders.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blue Jay getting a drink at a bird bath, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/blue-jay-adult-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-6361.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/blue-jay-adult-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-6361.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/blue-jay-adult-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-6361.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/blue-jay-adult-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-6361.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54104,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/09\/13\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-in-the-stansbury-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":127794,"position":1},"title":"Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay Portrait in the Stansbury Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"It isn't often that I am able to get close enough to a Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay that my only option is to take closeup portraits of them yet that is precisely what happened to me two days ago.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay portrait in junipers, Stansbury Mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":113747,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/06\/11\/blue-jay-portrait-in-arkansas\/","url_meta":{"origin":127794,"position":2},"title":"Blue Jay Portrait In Arkansas","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 11, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"For some people, a Blue Jay portrait might be a common image to capture, but for me, it's not common at all. This particular one was taken in Arkansas, not Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blue Jay portrait with a sunflower seed, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/blue-jay-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0104.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/blue-jay-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0104.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/blue-jay-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0104.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/blue-jay-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0104.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/great-blue-heron-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-3808.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/great-blue-heron-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-3808.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/great-blue-heron-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-3808.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/great-blue-heron-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-3808.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34915,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/18\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-in-ophir-canyon\/","url_meta":{"origin":127794,"position":4},"title":"Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay in Ophir Canyon","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays in Ophir Canyon Road in Tooele County were the most cooperative of the jays that I found.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay perched on a snow covered Pinyon Pine, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/western-scrub-jay-adult-mia-mcpherson-4453.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/western-scrub-jay-adult-mia-mcpherson-4453.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/western-scrub-jay-adult-mia-mcpherson-4453.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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