Blue Jays Grown

"Screech, screech," echoes from the bird feeder and into the room where I type. It is the loud and obnoxious call of the blue jay. These jays are the babies that have grown up, looking like their parents and mastering the art of flight. On bad days, that call drives me crazy. One early morning, the pre-dawn call outside my open bedroom window made me wonder why I like these birds at all, with their hoarding of bird seed and obnoxious noises. But I do like them, maybe because we saw them from the time they were eggs.