Gray Jay

Visit with the Gray Jays

Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis)

We recently took a trip to Claudie, an abandoned, overgrown settlement deep in the woods north of Fredericton.  We stopped for a visit with a friend who was working on his cottage there. He had a group of Gray Jays which had been habituated to humans.  They soon visited with us and expected a handout.  

At first they landed nearby in the trees making a variety of noises, mostly 'wee-ah' or 'chuck chuck chuck'.  Next, one bird landed on our friend's arm which prompted his producing gifts of bread for the birds.  They then flew in close to take the bread from our hands, even landing on our heads a couple of times.  After stuffing their bills with food, they would fly off and remain away for a few minutes before returning for more.  This was repeated many times.  It was obvious they were storing the food somewhere.

Gray Jay Coming for a Treat

The Gray Jay is about 29.2 cm (11.5 in) long and appears to be a jay with a long tail and no crest on its head.  It has dark gray upper parts, light gray underparts, a white head with a dark gray nape.  Its gray tail is tipped with a narrow white band.  It has a noticeably small black beak and black legs and feet.  The young Gray Jay is dark gray all over except for a faint light gray moustachial line. Juveniles gain their adult plumage in July or August.   Gray Jays on territory live an average of 8 years.  The oldest known Gray Jay was 17 years old (banded and recaptured).  

Gray Jays are omnivorous.  They hunt arthropods, small mammals such as rodents, and nestling birds.  They also hunt amphibians and even land on moose in the winter and remove and eat engorged ticks from their backs.  They also eat carrion, fungi, seeds and fruit.  Gray jays twist and tug their food apart unlike blue jays which hammer it.   

Gray Jay

The Gray Jay inhabits the boreal forest of most of Canada.  Its range also extends into the western US in mountainous areas where there is boreal forest.  Its population is sparse, however.  

Gray Jays are permanent residents throughout their range.  They do not migrate.  They survive the winter months on food they have carefully cached all year.  This may prevent them from migrating.  They have a unique way of caching food.  They roll the food around in their mouths and coat it with a special sticky saliva which allows them to safely stick it into the crevices of bark and under lichens.  It also seems to help preserve the food.  This is then used to feed nestlings and the adults throughout the seasons when food is scarce.  They have good memories and know in great detail where their food is stored.  

Gray Jays nest in late winter, usually March or April.  The female does not leave the nest in such cold weather and is fed by the male.  Both parents feed the nestlings.  Each Gray Jay pair also has a juvenile which remains with them throughout the year to help feed the nestlings when they fledge.  Apparently when the fledglings mature there is a lot of rivalry among them to see which is dominant and 'wins' the chore of remaining with the adults for another year.  Researchers have measured high mortality in the other juveniles which are driven away from the parental area.  They team up with other jays which have had nesting failures that season.  

Gray Jay

The Gray Jay has several colloquial names.  Here it is often called the Canada Jay.  In 2016 an online poll was conducted by the Canadian Geographic magazine to select a national bird for Canada.  The Canada Jay was selected from the top five choices, although it was not number 1.  Another name for the bird is the Whisky Jack.  The origin of that name is interesting.  Since the species is associated with the history of First Nations cultures, the name comes from that.  There was a benevolent First Nations mythological figure called Wisakedjak, and the name for the bird was anglicized from that to Whisky Jack.  In Maine the bird is sometimes called Moose Bird or Gorby.  It is possible the derivation of the name, Gorby, is from the Scottish and Irish word root 'gorb' which means 'glutton' or 'greedy'.

Apparently there was a superstition in the early 20th century among Maine and New Brunswick woodsmen which prevented anyone from harming a Gray Jay.  They believed that whatever they did to a Gray Jay would happen to them.  I wonder what effect that had on the human habituation of the species.  We are probably seeing the effects of that early treatment of this species even today.  

There were three birds in the group we saw in Claudie.  They must have been a pair and their juvenile assistant.  Neat!