Although this bird may look sweet, the Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) is actually quite aggressive. Noisy and very territorial, this passerine or "perching" bird, is a member of the Corvidae ("crow") family native to North America. Constantly worried about finding and storing food, this bird often hides much more than it can eat. So much, that the Blue Jay sometimes forgets where he hid it all. On the bright side, some think that this absent mindedness helps disperse nuts seeds which could help grow trees and other plants! Blue Jays have many calls, the most common of which is the "jay" call for which it is named. It also frequently mimics the calls of Hawks. It has been suggested that they do this to warn other jays that a hawk is nearby. To hear the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's recording of a Blue Jay click here.
Source material from here and here. Photos by Yanik Chauvin and Hazel Proudlove.