The Lonesome Blue Jay

Last year, this Blue Jay and it's partner were my regular backyard visitors, they often came together enjoying the food and water. But on 09.30.08, a tragedy had happened. That afternoon, I looked through my kitchen window, spotted a big bird which I had never seen in my yard before. Immediately, I reached for my camera, zoomed in and, noticed that it was not an ordinary bird. Gosh! It was a swainson's hawk! I held my breath, took a few pictures of it standing boldly on the fence. Then all of a sudden, it dived into the far corner of my yard, grabbed an object with its strong claws and started tearing it up with its sharp beak. Soon after the hawk left, I stepped out of the kitchen to the backyard. My heart paused when I saw some beautiful blue feathers scattering around under the tree......I rather not to the describe the gruesome "crime scene" in detail. Because it all happened so fast and unexpectedly so I was
completely in shock. Suddenly I realized that no matter how many episodes of "Nature" I had watched on PBS, showing about the survival and the cruelty in the world of nature, yet when it actually happened right in front of my eyes in my own backyard, I couldn't take it. It was just too real and brutal!

The lonely, heart-broken Blue Jay still comes everyday without its partner. Every time I saw it, I felt terribly sorry because of that unfortunate incident. I had tried to take its picture numerous times but it always flew away before I could even put my hand on my Cannon camera. Finally, last week on 01.16.09, I successfully took its picture! Here you can see the "Lonesome Blue Jay" still looks very sad, isn't it?

To learn more about Blue Jay: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Cyanocitta_cristata.html

To learn more about Swainson's Hawk : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swainson