Blue Jay Update: The Final Chapter

I have a classic Aries personality. This means I have a fiery streak that sometimes can't be managed. I like to think of myself as pretty laid back.....but push me to the limit and I can boil over. Therefore, I have had to use my label maker (aren't they the best?!) to create a note that says, "When in doubt, don't." It is taped above the screen on my laptop so that I don't send regrettable e-mails. I highly recommend it.

But today, I'm going to ignore my own advice and post this last picture of Baby. I haven't shown it before because it's just not a good idea to have a bird loose in the car. But this is how Baby got into my life. She was a fledgling in need and she arrived by car, squawking the entire time. When Chris turned the steering wheel, she simply rode the wheel around until it was returned to center. She insisted that she sit on the wheel and it is impossible to argue with a hungry bird!

I'm happy/sad to say that Baby has become a wholly independent Blue Jay.

I still see her occasionally along the edge of the woods. She's easy to recognize because she has a distinguishable habit of rubbing her beak back and forth on pine branches, as if she is sharpening a knife on a whetstone. And she still answers with a distinctive "Meh" when I call her. But she doesn't come to me anymore.

It's good. The chances of a car-riding, hand-fed bird surviving in the wild are slim, but she's doing it. Blue Jays are tenacious like that. I think Baby must be an Aries, too.