I know people dislike them, but I have grown to love Blue Jays. I keep a bird feeder outside my office window at work, and I bring in unsalted peanuts in the shell.
The Blue Jays and Titmouses love them, but the Blue Jays have a particular appetite for them. My office has been in a trailer for many years, and I love it. That means I have a window I can open, and it faces a large swath of vegetation on the property of my employer. I fill the bird feeder every day (it holds about a gallon zip lock full of seeds, and is one of those that spins the squirrels as shown below, so...they avoid climbing on it. Here is a video gif from a squirrel that had not figured it out yet. (I adulterated this one for the election...:)
Anyway, I usually get in around 0630, and when I open my blinds, the Blue Jays are already lined up in the vegetation, waiting.
Jays are indeed smart, but they have funny and sometimes goofy behavior. I disliked them for many years, because I never paid attention to them except the raucous call they make that is so irritating to our ears.
But once I did begin paying close attention to them, they actually make sounds that are quite nice, a very melodious, pleasant call. They have what is called a "Pump Handle" or "Squeaky Gate" call that is fun to hear, and they use it in territorial disputes with other Blue Jays. If you watch them, they bob their body up and down as they do it, and it gives them a rather goofy air!
I have a lot of meetings, and if I am not the organizer, and am just needed in case people have questions, I throw the peanuts out the window. I usually have about 20 lined up on the ledge
When I feed them peanuts in the shell I make a clicking sound (six quick clicks as I snap my tongue from the roof of my mouth) and the Blue Jays, sometimes up to a dozen, know there are peanuts coming, and and they are all watching closely to see where I throw them. There are often up to six squirrels on he ground at the feeder at the same time, and the jays and squirrels compete for the peanuts. So the Jays and squirrels are all frozen, looking to see which direction I throw the peanut in (I do one at a time) and when I toss it, the race is on.
I try to toss them so the Jays can get there first, but they have to be bold. If they hesitate, they are at risk for being bitten by the squirrel, because the squirrels take this quite personally, and the Jays know it. But the bolder ones, even if it is close, will swoop in a split second before the squirrel can get there in a full run, peck the peanut up their beak, and fly off with their booty where they perch on a branch and smash the peanut repeatedly against a branch until the peanut shell opens up and they can get the good stuff inside! Usually, I have enough peanuts on each session to give every Jay a chance to get one, and they usually do. If another Jay or a squirrel gets the peanut first, they look up to see where I throw the next one.
I have turkeys, too. I have had over a dozen of them at a time, and when they are there and I open the window, they are already looking up, waiting for peanuts. Nobody messes with the turkeys, the squirrels and Blue Jays avoid them like the plague.
I can't get the Blue Jays to eat from my hand, but...the Titmouses and Chickadees occasionally will.
I am getting close to retirement, and will miss those birds. But I already have a flock at home that I will begin to attract.