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Gray Jay

Perisoreus canadensisOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Crows and Jays (Corvidae)

Gray Jay Portrait
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General

Gray Jay: Medium-sized, fluffy, crestless jay with gray upperparts, paler underparts, and a short bill. Tail is long and white-tipped. Three distinguishable populations occur: Pacific, Rocky Mountain, and Taiga. All have black eyes, bills, legs and feet, and white ear patches and throats. Juvenile is gray overall with white moustache stripe and gray bill.

Range and Habitat

Gray Jay: Resident from Alaska east to Labrador and south across the northern U.S. Most commonly found in coniferous forests.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"whee-ah", "chuck-chuck"

Interesting Facts

 The Gray Jay has many informal names, including "Whiskey-Jack," and "meat-bird.”

 They are trusting and easily tamed.

 They coat mouthfuls of food with saliva and store them in tree bark and other crevices for later use.

 A group of jays has many collective nouns, including a "band", "cast", "party", and "scold" of jays.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Gray Jay
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Jays and Magpies (Corvidae)_blue
Species Perisoreus canadensis
Length11.5 Inches
Wingspan16.5 Inches

Gray Jay

Gray Jay: Medium-sized, fluffy, crestless jay with gray upperparts, paler underparts, and a short bill. Tail is long and white-tipped. Feeds on insects, carrion, refuse, seed, nuts, berries, mice, eggs and young of other birds. Light and bouyant flight on steady wing beats. Glides between perches.

● Song: "whee-ah", "chuck-chuck"

● Foraging & Feeding: Gray Jay: Eats arthropods, berries, carrion, bird eggs and young, and fungi. Forages in trees, shrubs, and on the ground; chases insects in the air.

● Breeding & nesting: Gray Jay: Two to five white to olive eggs, spotted with olive and brown, are laid in a solid bowl of twigs and bark strips, lined with feathers and fur, and built near the trunk of a dense conifer. Incubation ranges from 16 to 18 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Gray Jay: Clark's Nutcracker is chunkier and has medium gray upperparts and underparts and a short white tail with black central feathers.

Flight Pattern

Light buoyant flight on steady wing beats.
Gray Jay Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Gray Jay: Resident from Alaska east to Labrador and south across the northern U.S. Most commonly found in coniferous forests.
BreedingMonogamous, Small colonies
PopulationCommon to fairly common
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight2.6 Ounces