A new day with the Pinyon Jay flock

This morning I drove out to the area where I had found the Pinyon Jay creche yesterday. As I just heard a few distant jay calls I walked into the pinyon-juniper trees. I didn't get far before it became clear that again the birds were sitting nearby but quiet until I entered the area. The first bird I saw was a fledgling (reddish mouth lining is quite visible even 40 feet away, with binoculars of course).

There were apparently several jays in each of the trees surrounding me as I could hear their calls as they communicated amongst themselves about my intrusion. It was really cool for awhile being basically surrounded by Pinyon Jays, some flying occasionally between trees (some coming in closer, maybe to check me out threat-wise) and the calls in surround-sound.

Then I blew it by trying to move closer to see the birds--and the birds started flying off. It quickly became apparent that most of the flock had flown in after I invaded their area and now they all flew about a half mile away to a more protected location (private property with few human intrusions). I got this pic as they flew off.

There was no good reason for me to disturb the flock, it was just my greed. I will have to be more careful in future encounters as I don't believe in unnecessarily disturbing birds.
SeEtta