Monday 7 February 2022

The Eurasian Jay

One morning, not long ago, I looked out of the window and saw a beautiful Eurasian Jay hopping around our front garden. This particular bird is a frequent visitor to our garden and one that I always enjoy seeing. Even though I was still in my dressing gown, I grabbed my camera and, after just a handful of shots, managed to get a lovely one. The jay is sitting on our garden fence, framed beautifully by one of our flowering bushes which is currently offering some bright orange berries, below.
I posted the photo on my Facebook profile and it was popular! I decided that if my friends liked it so much, I was going to recreate the photo in paper. The piece I have made measures 20x25cm and, like much of my work, is created from layers of cut paper. The original is for sale and it is also available as print in my Etsy shop. Please send me an email or leave a comment if you are interested in purchasing the piece.
Now, a little bit about the Eurasian Jay. It is a relatively small corvid (a bird of the crow family), with a length of 34–35 cm and a wingspan of 52–58 cm. It has a stout black bill, a white throat with a thick black moustache. and the forehead and crown are white with black stripes. It has a black-and-white wing pattern with a prominent bright blue patch with fine black bars on the shoulder. The tail is mainly black.
The Eurasian Jay is an inhabitant of woodland, forest, parkland and gardens with larger trees, especially oaks. It feeds in both trees and on the ground, eating a wide range of invertebrates, acorns, seeds, berries and even young birds and eggs, bats and small rodents! It is typically rather shy and difficult to see well, but sometimes feeds out on open ground, as the one in our garden did. Pairs mate for life and work together to construct their messy-looking nests. Nests are built in trees and shrubs using twigs, with roots and hair for lining, where the female will lay four to five eggs.
The Eurasian jay is a common resident of Israeli towns and villages that have parks and green spaces, particularly in the north and central Israel.
Sticky Mud and Belly Laughs

15 comments:

Kim Carberry said...

What a beautiful bird and a fantastic piece of art.

Shiju Sugunan said...

Eurasian Jay is such a pretty bird. Your composition of the photograph makes it look prettier and the re-creation in paper looks even better.

Anne said...

Such a pretty little bird and I'm impressed with your photograph, but even more impressed with how perfectly you've captured it in paper. Incredible!

Carol @Comfort Spring Station said...

The jay is a pretty bird and one I've never seen. I always love your art translation and this beautiful work is no exception. You really should do more wall art. They are exquisite.

Michele Morin said...

Amazing! I love how you recreated the photo!

Tom said...

...beautiful!

Tamar SB said...

That turned out beautifully!!

Glenda Cates said...

The Bird is so pretty, and I love your Art and can't wait to share this new Bird with my son when we begin studying Birds. Have a nice week.

NCSue said...

So very different from our jays!
Thanks for sharing at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2022/02/alter-egos.html

Jayne said...

What a beautiful bird and your interpretation of it is stunning! Hope to see more art like this, I think you could have a whole new range coming here. x

VeggieMummy said...

Beautiful picture and beautiful photo too. Well done; I'm hopeless at taking photos of birds, I get too excited and they're always out of focus. We have jays that comes to the garden too. They are so colourful and always cheer me up. More bird pictures please. :O) xx

Joanne said...

What a beautiful bird! You did a great job both getting a fabulous photo and recreating it out of paper.

Miss Val's Creations said...

That is a handsome Eurasian Jay! Your cutout is perfect.

Hels said...

Love the blue patch :)

I have never seen a Eurasian Jay, but that makes sense since you noted that bird is an inhabitant of woodland and forests, especially oaks. Where was the bird, a common resident of Israeli towns now, originally from?

Lalka Crochetka said...

exquisitely beautiful work! I love birds and your Jay looks amazing!

Shareaholic