I have been taking some photos of cardinals and blue jays that have been in our yard.    I like the blue jays because of the two colors of blue in their feathers as well as the black, white and gray.  The blue jays are a big, noisy bird and is one of the most colorful of the wild birds that have responded favorably to civilization and beome common in the shade trees of eastern towns.  The blue jay is essentially a woodland creature and is still most abundant in open oak and beech trees.  They are three quarters vegetarians, acorns, beechnuts and corn being its staple foods.   They make harsh calls, a trumpeting whistle, a scream like a red-shouldered hawk, a flicker like call, and a song of soft warbles and twitters. 

The cardinal  is the state bird of West Virginia.  The cardinal has a rich, powerful, and  is pleasantly musical.  The male cardinal is red but the  female is brown and has some patches of red and a very conspicuous red bill.  This bird is at home in any habitat that includes dense thickets and tangles near open areas --field edges, woodland borders, stream banks, open swamps, parks and residential districts.  The chief foods are wild seeds, and fruit and supplemented by a variety of insects.  The birds' fondness for sunflower, melon, and squash seeds will bring them to feeding stations and a steady supply will establish wanderers as local residents.