I think that is the VERY rare Florida Scrub Jay.

Looks like a Blue Jay with no crest.

with those long legs, he could pass for a California Mocking bird. No kidding. cora

Definitely NOT a scrub jay, sadly. (They are marvelous birds, and here are pics for comparison)

I can't tell how large your mystery bird is, and I realize that it may have looked different in person, but to me, in your picture it looks very slate gray, and I think it looks like a mockingbird. That's my best guess.

Whaddya think?

Marcia

It kind of looks like a cat bird to me. Did you hear it? They sound like cats, or sometimes even like crying babies. Cornell has a site with a good picture and a recording of their call.

Here is a link that might be useful: All About Birds: Gray Catbrid

It does look like the picture of the Northern Mockingbird from my Audubon book, the wings match but the color is more gray than blue. Very pretty!

Nope, not a catbird. They are related to mockers and look similar, but they have black caps on their heads, rusty red under their tails, and no wingbars or white on them anywhere.

Gray catbird:

Here is another picture of the northern mockingbird. I still think that's what this bird really is.

See the wingbars and the white alongside the edges of the tail? I just can't imagine anything else that this mystery bird looks like, even though mockers are gray and not blue. If the light is low, they can look much bluer than they really are.

Marcia

Well it was morning sun and in the woods,from a distance he looked the color looked like a jay . I cropped it until I got the size I needed. Do not know if that would make a difference.

There is no blue bird marked like this guy, so I really think the lighting just fooled you a bit. And he isn't blue in these pictures, really. He's definitely a slate gray, which is exactly right for a mockingbird in the shadows. I have showed your photo to my "expert" birding friends, and they have all said it is a northern mockingbird.

Isn't it interesting how the look of a bird can change, based on where you are observing him?

BTW, no blue birds are really blue looking in the shade, just as a tidbit. There is no blue pigment in bird feathers. The blue your eyes see is refracted light, and varies hugely from sun to shade. Bluebirds in shade will often look almosts black, depending on how much ambient light is hitting them. Just a useless bit of trivia for ya, but it does make me remember that in comparison, a gray bird will often look MORE blue in the shade, rather than less.

Marcia

This bird is very blue. I live in Sparks, NV (next door to Reno) and I have seen several of these birds recently. They are not rare as I have seen them a handful of times over many years. IDK what kind of bird it is and I am interested what type it is.

Oops I may have taken 1st photo from Manature as bird in question. So may be bird I am interested in is--scrub jay?