Last Saturday while Judy and I were coming down Mount Elbert in Colorado I had a fun experience with a Gray Jay. I'd taken a detour off the trail to photograph some colorful bushes at the base of a pine tree. A gray jay flew into a pine tree near me and I took its picture. It then proceeded to circle around me, flying from pine tree to pine tree and several times to the ground. It got quite close.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEIZyfasYw4cbifX2rbloqqGm1Be1aIYtiPDRyxityGga8y2IIkR_xuPe7keq7i70cVK_Y6Fq9c4apNL49-I8mwVGjz-epPKIvG-pcc2SkNWvKepkd3V11rdxgJlmGVly1d1AhqC0Q-QY/s400/1+Clark%27s+Nutcracker.JPG)
I started this blog thinking it was a Clark's Nutcracker, a bird I've seen many times, usually at high elevations in the San Bernardino Mountains. But I've also seen them in the Sierras, the Tetons, and the Uintas. I was going to comment that the Clark's Nutcracker is usually quite wary and I'd never gotten so close to one. However, I noted that this particular bird was missing the dark black wing and tail feathers of the Clark's Nutcracker.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy5QoakJWRxyUI1GYmqC-YNkrt8_ChElggEuHDGxxMR1W_UDV34FkzACM2Fp1MgCMA4CWuYtUHUULhnZF3Q6ZirKn6kLVCaEuW-QRqbwpzCt5GNNTuXeHRpvG-BrkDY5EwTy5Uw6C3o4Us/s400/2+Clark%27s+Nutcracker.JPG)
A quick turn to the
Field Guide to Western Birds revealed that it was, instead, a gray jay, a bird that I don't recall encountering before. They are not found in Southern California, but are found in the mountains of Colorado. The gray jay has a white forehead or crown and a black patch across the back of the head.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dGGHVCtEywAySynMNYtKisD2FVxMYOajAezpvVRJbiyVKFLJt4CRIn-qL0P8YoWyvmQ7suzt9gijlb1zeF6Z-WOwsQ7wwt_YZVoraAaoQMoOJdLMlnum2lPqGOFg20mJVJ2gFi4s3FAc/s400/3+Clark%27s+Nutcracker.JPG)
Fun to run into a different species of bird without even realizing it.
In August 2013, while hiking up to Quandary Peak, outside Breckenridge, Colorado, I had another encounter with a gray jay. I was with Judy and Andrew and two of them got very close to us and seemed to follow us for a distance.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNApZXEA5B0ZfOfooXzpK9OCdCTfRDnyurRTK2hGX9KVv0ig2lhaytCPpih-yzdZ02_LUuf5PsoKtKDstHCbeaUQkWxYA_Xbz2OLV3lB56fr-e8NxJKFSbYyXDWEpPjHxhwGcNQ43AzrQ/s400/5a+gray+jay+-+Quandary+Peak.JPG) |
Gray jay near Quandary Peak |
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