A medium-sized jay famous for boldness around humans. Often steals food from campers; will fly directly to outstretched hands.
§ Quick facts
§ Encyclopedia
The Canada jay, also known as the grey jay, gray jay, camp robber, moose bird, gorby, or whisky jack, is a passerine bird of the family Corvidae. It is found in boreal forests of North America, north to the tree line, and in the Rocky Mountains subalpine zone south to New Mexico and Arizona. A fairly large songbird, the Canada jay has pale grey underparts, darker grey upperparts, and a grey-white head with a darker grey nape. It is one of three members of the genus Perisoreus, a genus more closely related to the magpie genus Cyanopica than to other birds known as jays. The Canada jay itself has nine recognized subspecies.
Source: Wikipedia — Canada jay Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
§ Identification
Field marks. Fluffy gray jay with a white face and forehead, a dark nape patch, no crest, and a short bill; looks like an oversized chickadee. Juveniles sooty-gray.
Similar species. Clark's Nutcracker is paler gray with black-and-white wings and a long bill; the Canada Jay is fluffier with a stubby bill and a soft gray-and-white pattern.
Voice. Soft whistles, chuckles, and a wide range of clucks and imitations; generally quiet and confiding.
§ Diet & behavior
Diet. Omnivorous: nuts, seeds, insects, eggs, carrion, small vertebrates.
Behavior. A bold, tame resident of northern and montane conifer forest; caches thousands of food items in bark with sticky saliva to survive winter, and begins nesting in late winter snow.
§ Range
Boreal Canada, Alaska, US Northeast and Northwest mountains
§ Habitat
Boreal coniferous and mixed forests
§ Threats
Climate-driven boreal habitat shifts.
§ Conservation status
According to the IUCN Red List, the canada jay is currently classified as Least Concern.
§ What helps
Support boreal forest conservation. Don't feed wild birds at feeders.
§ Further reading
- Wikipedia — Canada jay
- www.allaboutbirds.org — authoritative profile of Perisoreus canadensis
- IUCN Red List — search for Perisoreus canadensis
- GBIF occurrence records
- Encyclopedia of Life — Perisoreus canadensis
§ Sources cited
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology — All About Birds
- National Audubon Society
- iNaturalist
- IUCN Red List
