Cropped, sharpened, composed.

Another couple of shots of the Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay visiting my backyard feeders. They like the suet I put out and make myself with beef tallow, millet, corn, almonds and sunflower seeds. I melt the tallow and our it over a big red Dixie cup full of seeds and grains. Then chill it in the freezer until fall weather arrives. Otherwise the suet would melt and drip through the mesh bag making a slimy mess instead of a hearty protein meal for the year round bird visitors.

In the top photo you can see the Jay's rictal bristles on either side of its beak, like cat whiskers. Rictal bristles occur along the upper beak and are morphologically similar to mammalian whiskers. Lots of theories about those whiskers but most scientists agree they are sensory related.