Blue Jay puffed out amidst the hoarfrost on boxing day

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This Blue Jay is perched in a tree covered in hoarfrost. Its feathers are "puffed out" to insulate its body in the subzero temperatures. Individual snowflakes can be resolved on the beak and feathers at higher magnifications.

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Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Midwest Wisconsin, USA
Photo credit: © Blaine Paul / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, adaptation, animal, aves, behavioral, bird, birds, blue, boxing, christmastime, cold, corvid, corvidae, cristata, cyanocitta, day, downy, endothermic, erect, extreme, feathers, freezing, hoarfrost, homeothermic, jay, physiology, polar, puffed, scene, snow, snowflakes, survival, temperatures, thermoregulation, vertebrate, vortex, weather, winter