Kodachrome Basin Scrub Jay
Seeing an astonishingly beautiful Scrub Jay in an KodaChrome Basin
Scrub Jay on fence rail at Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah
During our recent trip through Southern Utah, we stopped at Kodachrome Basin State Park. The Park was beautiful, one of the highlights of our trip.
As lovely as the park was, though, it was a Scrub Jay perched near one of the parking lots that made the trip most memorable.
The Park guys had been building a fence and they had inadvertently split some of the wooden fence rails. They’d left the rails in piles, waiting for removal. The rails still had the hardware store bar-codes on them.
Scrub Jay at Kodachrome Basin, Utah
The Jay was perched on the discarded rails. He eyed us as we started our hike.
The contrast between the colors of the bird and the rocks was striking. Add to that the softness of the bird’s feathers compared with the hard, straight lines of the pointed nails.
It was a sight that sticks with you.
Scrub Jay on fencing materials at Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah
The bright personality, the intelligence, of the bird was part of another set of contrasts - the dumb stone majesty of the scenery and the sharp sparkling presence of the bird.
The vastness of the landscape seemed to focus down to sphere around the bird.
Scrub Jay stretching his wing at Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah. There are specks of dirt on his beak as there also are on the nails.
The bird flew from the fence posts to a juniper, and back again in little starts. He stayed in the same area, though, and was on the fence rails when we returned from our hike.
I wonder if he’s still there.