the noisiest of Neighbors

Cyanocitta cristata

Although our human next door neighbors are friendly folks who happen to ride Harleys, the real noisy next door neighbors are these guys. During the winter of 2008-09 there were up to 9 of these blue rascals that came for peanuts on our deck railing.
Apparently we are a desirable neighborhood, as one pair chose to set up housekeeping in the big ponderosa pine in their front yard, despite the Harley traffic in and out of the driveway below.

Pinus ponderosa

They have recently fledged 5 offspring from up here among the top branches. Anyone who has ever had a hungry, demanding infant has nothing on the blue jay parents! The young ones are as big as the parents and seem to think they are going to starve to death before they take another breath. The young chickadees, house finches and robins that also are around the yard are beggars, but the blue jay youth are the absolute Champions of Whine and Complain.