Blue Jay

Blue Beauty Right Under Our Noses

Blue Jay [Marbeth Wilson Photo]

You might not have noticed but we have blue beauty right under our noses.  And lots of it.  The Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) is such a common local bird that we tend to overlook it on our quest to see rare birds or the not-so-common local birds like cardinals and orioles.  Its aggressive behaviour around our feeders also tends to make us wish they would move on.  

I once had a visitor from Labrador who was very excited to see a Blue Jay because they are not found there.  To listen to him remark about how great it was to see one made me rethink our attitude towards this beautiful bird.  Sometimes we need to reconsider what we take for granted.

The Blue Jay is a medium-sized jay with distinctive blue plumage.  It is the only North American bird with bright blue and white wings and tail.  It has a blue crest, white underparts and a dark necklace.  At 28 cm (11 in) long it is bigger than the robin (25 cm/10 in).  Juveniles look like the adults but are more grayish and have more limited white on the wings.  There are 3 subspecies of this species and they differ in size and brightness.  The bromia subspecies that lives here is the largest and brightest.  The Blue Jay is so distinctive in appearance you are not likely to mistake it for any other species here.  In the west, however, it can be mistaken for the Steller's Jay.  

Blue Jay

The Blue Jay readily comes to feeders where it dominates other birds.  Other birds tend to wait until the jays are finished rather than raise their scorn.  Blue Jays eat seeds, insects, fruits, nuts, mice and frogs.  They will sometimes raid the nests of other birds and take their eggs or nestlings.  They can open nuts by holding them with their feet and hammering them with their bill.  

Blue Jays are very vocal.  We are all familiar with their shrill 'jay, jay' call.  They also emit a variety of other sounds; gurgles, whistles and rattles.  They can also mimic other species especially raptors.  

Blue Jay

Most people are not aware that Blue Jays undergo some migration.  They are permanent residents across southern Canada from Alberta east to Newfoundland and south to Texas and Florida.  There is a small migration from the northern reaches of their range in winter.  That is why we see flocks of Blue Jays in fall here.  They are moving south from central Quebec or northern Ontario to warmer climates for the winter.  

Blue Jays build their nests high in trees in coniferous forests, mixed woods and suburbs.  The nest is made of sticks and lined with grass.  Three to 7 bluish green eggs marked with brown are laid.  Both parents incubate the eggs.  

 

You may have already suspected that the jay is intelligent.  It is a member of the Corvidae family, comprised of jays and crows.  We are familiar with the intelligence of crows and ravens, cousins to the jays.  Experiments have been done on jays and show that they know how to use tools.  They have made tools to get at the desired food.  Another interesting fact is that the blue of the blue jay is not real pigment which most would assume.  It is caused by the way light refracts from the structure of the feather.  If a blue jay feather is ground up, the blue disappears!  A neat fact for the scientific birder. 

When the jays come to your feeder tomorrow, look at them now for their unique beauty!