I love scrub jays, they are so funny, and energetic , but I find them hard to capture because they’re always on the move. I finally was able to get close enough to watch this one and a few others actually resting for awhile.
Anything
Is this a composite: No
Nikon D3400, 300mm, f/6.3, ISO 200 ,1/1000, cropped slightly and brought up exposure
Looks like a nice sunny day. Good pose and I like the composition, the cones under the jay gives a nice balance. There seem to be a lot more jays in our area lately and they’re constant visitors to our feeders, always bullying the other birds.
A great image. In addition to the bird, I also like the composition with the branch in the FG very sharp and the BG with same color scheme but OOF. Maybe you could try to make the BG even more blurred.
A nice portrait, Vanessa! I especially like the separation between the foreground and background. It creates a teal sense of depth.
I love Scrub Jays as well. As a kid we called them Blue Jays, but I think they were Scrub Jays!
Thanks @Allen_Brooks , yeah this was a couple months back when we had more sun! Definitely in the rainy season now! I took this on one of my bike rides. I do get a few scrub jay visitors and I started putting some seeds and nuts out on some logs and it’s so funny, they tell me when they need more! 
Thanks @Ola_Jovall for your feedback. Do you mean making it more blurred in processing? I don’t think I know how to do that. Glad you like it!
Thanks @Mark_Muller , glad you like it! When I lived out east we had Blue Jays. But I like these more! I really like their vocalizations. Sometimes they sound like they’re asking a question and then when they really get going sound like what I would imagine a Pterodactyl sounds like!
I like their vocalizations too, and yes, it seems like they are asking questions!
Thanks @Ola_Jovall , I’m not sure if I have that feature or not…
Nice detail in the jay, Vanessa. I like the head turn. You might burn the bright spots on the fir cone directly under the jay as it tends to pull my eye quite a bit.
Thanks, @Dennis_Plank . I kind of wasn’t sure about that pinecone myself. But I agree it is bright. I’ll have to see what I can do.
This works fairly well as presented. You have a lot of detail in the bright white plumage but even 1/2 a stop of decreased highlights could make the plumage stand out even more. I’m very okay with the depth of field and the original image. Dennis has a good point about decreasing the highlights on the pinecone just below the bird.
Thanks @David_Schoen for your feedback! Yeah, I totally agree about the pine cone, I’ll have to try your suggestion on the feathers too! Thanks so much for looking and your advice!
