We Don't Have Blue Jays in California: Here's one in St. Louis

Even when I was young, I remember hearing from park rangers and others that California "doesn't have Blue Jays". California has Steller's Jays, Scrub Jays, and Pinyon Jays. But no Blue Jays. Which left me wondering what a Blue Jay actually was, and where a person could see one. Eventually I found that actual Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) are birds of the eastern United States and Canada. They are quite common, of course, but you have to be east of the Rocky Mountains to see them.

I'm in St. Louis this week, and so there are Blue Jays to be seen as easily as going into the back yard of my sis-in-law's place. It was dusk, and they barely ever stopped hopping from tree to tree, but here are some reasonable shots.