Gray Jay

Perisoreus canadensisOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Crows and Jays (Corvidae)

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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.

● 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

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Gray Jay

Gray Jay

Flight Pattern