ML637388604

Observation details

There was a bench in the shade of a pine at about the half-mile point, and we sat down on it before starting back. Momentarily we were joined by a Mexican Jay that perched just a couple of feet over our heads. We expected it to fly off when it realized we were there, but it stayed where it was, looking down at us. We figured that it must be used to begging from hikers, but after a couple of minutes we saw a second jay fly into a small pine down the slope, and looking at it through our binoculars we realized that it had a nest. It bent down over the nest, either turning eggs or fine-tuning the construction, but now that we understood the first bird's behavior as concern for its nest we left.