They're loud, raucous, feathered thieves, and one of the harbingers of winter in North America. It's the Cyanocitta Cristata, or common Blue Jay.

Larger than robins but smaller than crows, they are one of only two species of Jays in North America, to carry the dark barring on their wings and tails. While they don't prey on other birds, they will, when opportunity arises, raid bird feeders that are meant for other species. This pirating often cancels some of the charm that homeowners find in the bright flashes of blue on a dull winter day. Homeowners that are close enough to a Blue Jay who's just gotten up on a cold morning, may be startled to find that not only are they feathered, they are flatulent!

Scientific observers have discovered an innate intelligence in the Blue Jay as well, as proved by the fact that they will immediately regurgitate poisonous material, and never touch it again. They are also capable of making off with a wasp nest, and perching in a tree with the nest held in one foot while their beak roots out the larvae inside.

As big and brash as they are, the Blue Jay does have natural bird enemies, including the Screech Owl, falcons and hawks. Perhaps in a quirk of Mother Nature's sense of humor, she has endowed the Blue Jay with the ability to imitate the call of a hawk.

Despite their objectionable behavior, they do have some redeeming qualities. Blue Jays are suspected of helping to propagate the growth of oak trees after the last ice age, by burying acorns for later consumption, which then sprouted and helped the tree to move further from its origins.