The blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) is a familiar backyard bird found throughout eastern and central North America. Known for their bright blue plumage and raucous calls, blue jays are highly intelligent, adaptable birds that thrive in a variety of habitats. Blue jays belong to the family Corvidae, which includes crows, ravens, magpies, and nutcrackers. There are actually several different subspecies of blue jay spread across North and Central America. Read on to learn about the appearance, behavior, habitat, breeding habits, and conservation status of this iconic American songbird.
Appearance and Physical Features
Blue jays are medium-sized songbirds, measuring 22-30 cm (9-12 inches) in length with a wingspan around 34-43 cm (13-17 inches). Their most distinctive feature is the vibrant, cyan-blue colored plumage on their back, wings, tail, and crest.
Size and Weight
On average, blue jays typically weigh 70-100 grams (2.5-3.5 ounces). Males and females are similar in size in most subspecies. The Blue Jay measures 22–30 cm (9–12 in) in length and has a wingspan of 34–43 cm (13–17 in).
Colors and Markings
In addition to their bright blue feathers, blue jays have a white face and underparts, black necklace across the throat, and a black bill, legs, and eyes. Their wings and tail are highlighted with black barring and stunning royal blue, black, and white patterns. The blue crest feathers can be raised or lowered according to the bird’s mood.
Young jays have less vibrant plumage, lacking the bright blue hues. Their feathers are often gray-brown to gray-blue. By one year of age their adult plumage will be fully developed.
Sexual Dimorphism
Male and female blue jays appear nearly identical, without strong sexual dimorphism in their plumage. Females may have a slightly shorter crest and warmer gray-brown hues in their plumage. Size is usually the best indicator, as males tend to be slightly larger.
Habitat and Range
Blue jays occupy a wide range and diverse array of habitats across eastern and central North America. They are found from northern Florida to central Texas and north up into southern Canada. Their western range extends into New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Montana.
Native Range
The blue jay has an expansive native range covering the entire eastern half of the United States. Their range extends from southern Florida up into southeastern Canada. It stretches west into Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, eastern Colorado, and Montana. Along the West Coast, blue jays are found in New Mexico, Arizona, and western Texas. Isolated populations occur in the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado as well.
Across this vast range, eight recognized subspecies of blue jay occur, with minor variations between their size, coloration, and range. The most widely distributed subspecies is the Eastern Blue Jay.
Habitats
Blue jays occupy a wide variety of habitat types, including woodlands, suburban parks, backyards, orchards, and even city neighborhoods with sufficient cover.
Mature oak and beech forests seem to be preferred, but they adapt readily to coniferous or mixed forests, forest edges, second-growth woodlands, and planted groves or woodlots. You’re likely to spot these songbirds anywhere from dense forest to open backyard feeders.
Migration
Most blue jay populations are non-migratory, remaining year-round residents throughout their breeding range. Northern populations may migrate short distances of around 11-20 km (7-12 miles) to reach their wintering grounds. A few populations, like those in New England, may migrate further south for winter. But most blue jays do not migrate long distances like many other songbirds.
Diet and Feeding Habits
Blue jays are omnivorous, feeding on a wide variety of insects, seeds, nuts, fruits, eggs, small vertebrates, and even rubbish or food scraps from backyard bird feeders. Their diverse diet allows them to thrive across many habitats.
Omnivorous Diet
As opportunistic foragers, blue jays will eat almost anything they can get their beaks on! They are classified as omnivores, consuming both plant and animal matter. Their diet includes nuts, seeds, fruits, berries, acorns, soft grains, tubers, fungi, insects, eggs, young birds and bats, small reptiles, and even dead flesh.
At backyard feeders they readily devour peanuts, sunflower seeds, cracked corn, millet, and are especially fond of roasted, salted peanuts. They’ll also eat mealworms, crickets, eggs, cheese, bread, and other table scraps.
Food Sources
Blue jays forage for insects like beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and others on tree bark, leaves, and the ground. Some favorites include beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, spiders, snails, and various larval insects.
Plants provide fruits like small wild cherries and berries, seeds of weeds and grasses, acorns and beechnuts, grain crops, fungi, and other nutritious plant material.
Vertebrates like nestlings and eggs of other bird species may supplement the jay’s diet, especially in spring. And during winter they rely more heavily on nuts, seeds, and grain crops. At bird feeders, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and corn kernels are favorite foods.
Foraging Behaviors
Blue jays use strong bills to crack open nuts and acorns. They may hammer or wedge these against tree branches or other objects. Their bills also allow them to extract insects from crevices.
When foraging in trees for insects, fruits, or nuts, the blue jay hops along branches, searching crevices in bark or leaf litter, sometimes probing with its bill. These songbirds also forage on the ground, searching through leaf litter and low vegetation.
To harvest acorns or beechnuts, blue jays may collect them in the fall and hide or cache excess nuts and seeds to retrieve later in the winter.
You can Read More: 10 Foods Blue Jays Love To Eat In Your Backyard
Vocalizations and Sounds
The blue jay has a wide repertoire of calls. Their “jay-jay” alarm is loud and carries long distances. Blue jays use calls and song to communicate with mates and family, warn of predators, and signal alarm.
Calls and Alarm Cries
One of the blue jay’s most recognized sounds is its harsh, ringing “jay-jay” alarm call, which warns other jays of danger. This loud, far-carrying call is often the first clue a blue jay is nearby.
Other calls include a high, whining “preee” tone, gurgling notes and rattles, the “pump-handle” call, and various mimicry of hawks or other species. Young jays give pleading calls when begging for food. Blue jays also use non-vocal means to communicate, like spreading their crest.
Song and Courtship
The blue jay song is a pleasant, musical warbling, often sounding like a squeeze toy! They sing year-round, but this melodious song is most common during mating season as a courtship display. Both males and females sing softly while perched among dense foliage.
In aggressive or territorial encounters, blue jays give a harsh, buzzing “zhreee” call. Softer, whistled calls communicate among mates and families. Mimicry of other species like accipiters can signal alarm.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
Blue jays reach breeding maturity by 2 years of age. They form monogamous breeding pairs and may use the same nest site for multiple years.
Courtship Displays
Starting in mid-March, male blue jays begin courtship displays to attract a female mate. The male rapidly raises and lowers his crest, swishes his tail, and makes soft whistling sounds. He may also flutter droop his wings, bob his head, and dance to show off blue plumage.
Females may visit several males before choosing a breeding partner. Once paired, the bond tends to last until one mate dies, as blue jays exhibit long-term monogamy. However, both males and females may mate outside the pair as well.
Nest Building
The female blue jay selects the nest site, typically 10-30 feet high up in a conifer or deciduous tree. Both parents work together to build the nest over 6-9 days in April or May.
The nest is an open cup built of twigs, bark strips, roots, moss, pine needles, stems, and lined with fine grasses. Nests are well-concealed on a high branch away from the trunk. Blue jays may use the same nest for multiple broods or build a new one.
Clutch Size and Incubation
A single clutch contains around 3-6 eggs. The female incubates them for about 17-18 days. Her body heat keeps the eggs at proper temperature until hatching.
The eggs are light brown, grayish or pale olive with brownish spots. Only the female incubates them. She turns them periodically and leaves briefly to eat. The male feeds her while she incubates.
Fledging and Parental Care
Blue jay chicks are altricial, blind and helpless at hatching. Both parents feed and care for the young, who fledge at around 17-21 days old. For up to four weeks after leaving the nest, fledglings follow their parents and beg loudly for food.
By late summer, juveniles disperse to establish their own territories. Some offspring may remain with parents until the next breeding season begins. Blue jays may first breed after their second year.
Behavior and Social Structure
Blue jays are intelligent, social birds that live in family groups with complex behaviors and communication. Jays are not migratory over most of their range.
Social Organization
Blue jays live in loose flocks during winter for foraging. In spring they form monogamous breeding pairs who mate for life. Families may stay together in small groups through summer.
Young jays remain dependent on parents for up to a month after fledging. Dispersing juveniles join winter flocks, often returning to their parents’ territory the next breeding season.
Intelligence and Adaptability
In scientific tests, blue jays demonstrate intelligence equal to crows, ravens, and other corvids. They’re known for mimicking calls of other bird species. Jays quickly learn routines and adapt well to new environments like parks or suburbs.
Blue jays cache food like nuts or seeds and remember locations for retrieving it later. Their cognitive abilities rival or surpass many mammals.
Aggression and Territoriality
Blue jays are aggressive and territorial birds who chase away other mid-sized birds from feeders or nest sites. However, they may tolerate smaller songbirds.
Jays are bold when defending territory, swiftly diving at predators like hawks while giving loud alarm calls to signal danger. Their aggressive habits dominate bird feeders, though they can be generous to mate and family.
Predators and Threats
Adult jays may fall prey to large hawks, owls, falcons, snakes, raccoons, cats, and other predators. Eggs and nestlings are vulnerable to squirrels, snakes, crows, other jays, raccoons, and domestic cats.
However, the jay’s alarm calls alert others, and aggression helps drive off potential predators. Only the swiftest raptors manage to catch them. Humans pose the greatest threat throughcollisions with buildings or vehicles. Habitat loss also impacts local populations.
Relationship with Humans
While some people consider the blue jay a noisy bully, these clever birds provide an overall benefit. Their beauty and song brighten backyard feeders. Jays serve the ecosystem by dispersing seeds and controlling pest insects.
Some blue jays may become conditioned to accept food from humans. But they generally avoid close contact. Jays at feeders will take peanut hearts or sunflower seeds but never become dependent on supplemental feeding.
Species and Subspecies
Along with other New World jays, the blue jay belongs to the genus Cyanocitta in the Crow family Corvidae. Eight subspecies occur across North America and into Central America. Most are very similar.
Florida Scrub-Jay
The Florida Scrub-Jay (C. coerulescens) is found only in Florida. It dwells in oak scrub habitat and faces habitat loss threats. About 7,000-8,000 breeding pairs remain.
Island Scrub-Jay
Santa Cruz Island in California hosts the Island Scrub-Jay (C. insularis), estimated at under 3,000 birds. Its habitat is endangered by growing deer populations.
Western Scrub-Jay
In the western states, the Interior West Coast breeds the Western Scrub-Jay (C. californica). It overlaps around Texas with the Eastern Blue Jay.
Mexican Jay
The Mexican Jay (C. ultramarina) lives in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest. It resides in pine-oak forests up to 10,500 feet in elevation.
Brown Jay
Also called the Brown-headed Jay, the Brown Jay (C. pumilo) inhabits humid forests from southern Texas through Mexico and Central America.
San Blas Jay
A tropical species, the San Blas Jay (C. sanblasiana) lives in coastal forests of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. It is relatively scarce and local.
Pinyon Jay
The Pinyon Jay (C. cyanomelas) breeds in pinyon pine and juniper woodlands in the western mountains. They congregate in large winter flocks.
Steller’s Jay
Common along the northwest coast, Steller’s Jay (C. stelleri) occupies conifer and mixed forests from Alaska to Central America. It has a noisy, raucous call.
Blue Jay
The Blue Jay (C. cristata) is the most widespread species, breeding across eastern North America. It adapts well to various habitats including suburban areas.
Conservation Status and Threats
While still abundant, blue jay numbers have declined by an estimated 28% in recent decades according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. However, their overall population remains secure. The species is classified as Least Concern.
Habitat loss poses the main threat, as development fragments mature forests preferred by jays. Collisions with vehicles and windows also contribute to mortality. House cats may take eggs or nestlings. But the jay’s intelligence helps it adapt to avoid these risks.
Providing bird feeders, nest boxes, and native plantings in parks and backyards can support healthy jay populations. Avoiding pesticides and keeping cats indoors aids their survival. Careful window placement reduces collisions.
Cultural Significance and Folklore
The blue jay’s brilliant plumage has made it a favorite among bird watchers. This songbird appears in literature and poetry, often portrayed as a noisy or thieving pest. Being wary and aggressive, jays also symbolize courage and intelligence in American Indian tribes.
In some Native American legends, the jay served as a messenger or sacred spirit, or represented wisdom and foresight.
Blue jays feature in medieval Christian folklore where the European Eurasian Jay represented treachery. Some myths paint them as deceitful thieves. However, modern wildlife appreciation recognizes the jay’s important role in seed dispersal.
Conclusion
The stunning blue jay remains one of America’s most recognized and appreciated songbirds. Its bold colors and voice brighten backyards, while its intelligence and adaptations allow this species to thrive close to humans. By providing appropriate habitat and food sources, we can support blue jay populations to continue gracing our neighborhoods for generations to come. The blue jay’s beauty, mischief, and charm will continue inspiring nature lovers.