Me and Rose were on our way to see Stewart Lee and we were walking along the street where we had previously spotted a song thrush (read about here). It was a damp dusk and in the distance, Rose spotted a medium-sized bird on the rooftop of one of the houses. I thought it was a pigeon. Rose thought it was a jay. It was a jay. Bouncing about along the rooftop and splashing in the water in the gutter, he was friendly or oblivious and didn't mind people watching him. He was probably showing off his springtime virility.
The jay is a corvid, a member of the crow family, but unlike the deathly dark mantle of their cousins, their feathers are rusty brown and black and white, rather like a giant chaffinch, but with a striking electric blue wing feather and black moustache. They are the dandies of the crow family and their raspy calling is like a leering smoker's beckoning.
We watched the jay for a little while. It's an attractive bird and not often seen round here. As we were conspicuously craning our necks, a woman walked past. She saw the bird and our interest in it. She asked if it was a woodpecker. Then the jay flew off into a tree to meet his wife, presumably, who was pottering about on a branch. I think they had just moved to the area for spring and were collecting material for their new home.
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