Yosemite Birds

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Steller's Jay ©2012 James McGrew I sat down on some rocks to paint a view of Upper Yosemite Falls when this Steller's Jay flew nearby foraging in the trees and momentarily perching on a rock as if to look over my shoulder and inspect the painting in progress.

$Steller's Jay perches on a rock and looks over my shoulder at the painting on which I worked depicting Upper Yosemite Fall. ©2012, James McGrew<br /> <br /> Members of the Corvidae, these birds also share some remarkable intelligence of their larger black colored relatives, crows and ravens. Steller's jays also exhibit beautiful plummage. However, the blue is not really pigment (a molecule that absorbs certain wavelengths and reflects other wavelengths). Instead the feathers refract blue wavelengths in certain directions. This is why you can pick up a blue feather and it appears blue in one direction but as you rotate the feather, it may change from brown to dark gray.$

Yosemite Birds

jimholmquist

Rick Willis

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