Well?

'Well?'   16 x 20 oil on silver gelatin original, $2100.

                                                                                                                                                                           

This adult jay was waiting for me to bring him breakfast in the little 25 foot-wide strip of scrub oak that was left in our neighborhood on the barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian River Lagoon. By the time we moved into the cottage in the 70's, that is all the scrub there was left in this area. It was amazing that they were still there, given the lack of food, and the multitude of roaming domestic cats, as scrub jays spend much time on the ground, foraging. In the end they were lost anyhow – a house was built there and the scrub removed. Scrub Jays are a species that are very territorial, and generally perish if forced to move. The oak scrub that provides habitat for the jays grows on high, well drained soil – also one of the best places for the siting of homes and businesses.