Blue Jay Babies!

We usually have robins nest under our deck on top of our ladder.  The last four years we've been able to watch them grow up.  This year however, we noticed much larger sticks being placed along the ladder.  Once we started keeping an eye out we realized there were blue jays building a nest!  Their nest building skills are amazing.  Look at this wet mud that they placed before a softer layer...

The eggs hatched either right before we got home or right after we got home from the beach. 

They grow so fast!  Both mama and daddy blue jay are very very busy feeding these loud hungry babies. 

This first guy left the nest late evening and I got to watch it happen.  He was jumping around all over the place under the deck screeching.  The parents called to him with a different sound, like the sound that the fledgling was making and got him out of the yard into some bushes.  The next evening the last four did the same thing!  The parents called them into four different locations.  It was so such a cool event to witness.  

Once they were gone I didn't see them for almost three weeks and thought most of them didn't survive.  But to my surprise after three weeks, I saw three to four juveniles in our redbud tree still getting fed by the parents.  They looked full grown other than lighter color and smaller beaks.  Jeff has been feeding them peanuts and even the babies are getting in on the action lately. :)