The Blue Jay

The blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) belongs to family Corvidae, which also includes crows, ravens and magpies in North America, and jackdaws, choughs and rooks in the Old World. Because corvids have the largest cerebrums, relative to body size, of all birds, scientists believe them to be the smartest. Corvids are social birds, with many species living in flocks when not nesting. The bold, colorful blue jay breeds from southern Canada south to Florida and west to the Rocky Mountains.

The blue jay is 11 to 12 inches in length (larger than a robin) and has a blue back marked with black and white; its underparts are off-white, and it has a prominent blue crest on its head. The sturdy beak is straight and sharp, well suited for a variety of tasks including hammering, probing, seizing and carrying.

Blue jays live in wooded and partly wooded areas, including extensive forests, farm woodlots, suburbs and towns. About three-quarters of their diet is vegetable matter: acorns, beechnuts, various seeds (including sunflower seeds from feeding stations), corn, grain, fruits and berries. The remaining 25 percent includes insects: ants, caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers and others, along with spiders, snails, frogs, small rodents, carrion and the eggs and nestlings of other birds.

Blue jays avoid strictly coniferous forests. They thrive in areas with plentiful nut-bearing oak and beech trees. Although primarily forest birds, blue jays have adapted to living in cities, where they nest in parks and along tree-lined streets, and feed at bird feeders.

The blue jay population in Pennsylvania and the Northeast is healthy. The birds nest over virtually all of the state, and were found to be among the top 10 most widely distributed species when the Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas was conducted in the late 1980s. On a continental scale, the species is expanding northwest into Canada. Biologists estimate two or three breeding pairs of blue jays per 100 acres of suitable habitat. Blue jays migrate in spring and fall, and more than 5,000 a day can be seen flying north over the Lake Erie Shore during the first two weeks of May.

Today's photo is by Robert Hayes Cummins, Ohio Bird Collection. Text modified from Chuck Fergus, Pennsylvania Game Commission.

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