With its brilliant feathers and loud calls, this songbird is hard to miss. When you see one, stop to listen to its many songs: a wild “jay! jay!”, a ringing “squeak,” and lots of clicks and rattles in between. The Blue Jay even imitates calls of other songbirds, like the high-pitched scream of the Red-shouldered Hawk.
If you spot this bird, stop to watch it looking for food like insects, seeds, and berries. It hops around the ground and between branches looking for a meal. It even hangs upside down if it thinks there’s something under a branch. If you look closely enough, you might see it catch an insect in mid-air.
Some say this bird’s bright, musical song sounds like “sweet-sweet-sweet, sweeter-than-sweet.” Yellow Warblers usually live along forest edges, streams, marshes, and other watery places. If you spot one, look on or near the ground for its cuplike nest. Inside, you might see 3–6 greenish white, speckled eggs.
In the spring and summer, the male Scarlet Tanager is quite a sight, with its bright red body set off by its black wings and tail. But this bird can be hard to spot since it usually feeds high up in the forest treetops. The females are even tougher to find, with their yellow-green feathers that blend in with the leaves.