Gray Jay

Description:

True to its name, the Gray Jay has a gray body, a white forehead, and the back of its head and nape is blackish. It has a short black bill and a long tail. Both males and females look the same.

Diet:

These birds will eat at bird feeders or anywhere else it can scavenge food. The They do not migrate and thus spend winters in the cold and snowy northern regions. Gray Jays store food for the winter and start hoarding it as early as spring. They have very sticky saliva, which they use to attach the food to trees and various other hiding places. When they are not eating people food, they eat insects, berries, mushrooms, and sometimes even other small animals such as toads, mice, and carrion.

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Nesting Habits:

Gray Jays are monogamous and live in pairs. A third bird often accompanies a pair, which is usually one of the young ones from the previous brood. They only nest in trees and make a large nest that has a base of sticks and an inner construction of tree bark, feathers and lichen. The female lays from 2-5 eggs that are greenish-gray with brown spots.

Although it's hard to fathom, the young of most Gray Jays do not make it through the first year. They breed early and the little ones are ready to leave the nest by late April. When they have been out of the nest for approximately five weeks, a strange behavioral event occurs. The baby birds begin to fight with one another and within the range of 10 days or so, one young bird has established itself as the dominant bird of the group. The dominant young one then accompanies the parents for at least another year, becoming an extra bird that lives with the pair and shares in their food and has their protection.

The other siblings, who were left behind because they were weaker, occasionally find another pair to adopt them, but that is rare. As a result, 80% of these baby birds die by fall of their first year. While ornithologists theorize about why this abandonment occurs, there really is no plausible explanation.

More Information:

The Gray Jay is a prominent bird across the northern United States, throughout Canada, and on up to the Arctic reaches. Campers in the Adirondacks, Green Mountains and White Mountains will probably know this large gray songbird from its attempts to get food wherever it can find it. It is a near permanent resident of campgrounds and is so friendly that it will often take food from your hand, as well as steal it from the picnic table or even inside the tent if given the chance. It's a member of the crow family, and often known by many other names, including Canada Jay, Camp Robber, and Whiskey Jack, which is a corruption of their Indian name Wiss-ka-chion. Their song is a soft whistle.

Their natural habitat is softwood forests, preferring black and white spruce and many kinds of pine. It is thought that the cold weather of the northern regions in which they live helps the food they store on trees not to spoil. In addition to the Northeastern parts of the U.S. and Canada, the Gray Jay extends down from Alaska and Canada into the western portions of the U.S., including Washington State, Arizona and New Mexico.

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