The Steller’s jay is a true standout in western North American forests with its vibrant blue coloring and raucous vocalizations. If you’ve ever encountered these crested corvids on your outdoor adventures, you won’t soon forget them!
Here are 10 fascinating facts about these charismatic birds:
1. Their Unmistakable Appearance
With brilliant blue upperparts that almost seem to glow, contrasted by a striking black head crest and charcoal gray underparts, the Steller’s jay is one of the most vibrantly colored birds in western North America.
Their punky crest gives them an inquisitive, almost mischievous look as they tilt their heads to survey their surroundings.
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2. Part of the Corvid Family
As a member of the corvid family, Steller’s jays are closely related to other famously smart birds like:
- Crows
- Ravens
- Magpies
Their impressive brain power and ability to solve problems, use tools, and even mimic sounds helps them thrive across their wide range from Alaska to Mexico.
3. Masterful Hoarders
With an omnivorous diet, these industrious jays spend a great deal of effort gathering and caching food supplies to sustain themselves. Even more amazing? They have the astounding ability from their excellent spatial memory to locate most of these concealed caches months later when needed.
These birds create scattered caches, burying acorns individually across their territory. In a single month, a Steller’s jay may cache up to 3,000 acorns! (ref) While they certainly eat many of these acorns themselves, some are inevitably forgotten, leading to the growth of new oak trees.
4. An Indiscriminate Diet
Steller’s jays will eat just about anything, adjusting their menu based on what’s available. In addition to their hoarded supplies, they happily consume:
- Insects
- Eggs plundered from nests
- Berries
- Scraps pilfered right from campsites and picnics. This thievery once earned them the less-than-flattering but fitting “camp robber” nickname from disgruntled park visitors. (ref)
5. Master Architects
During the breeding season, Steller’s Jays become fiercely territorial, defending their nesting sites from potential rivals. Their nests are intricate structures, meticulously woven from twigs, moss, and other plant materials, often high up in the branches of coniferous trees.
6. Raucous Calls That Echo through the Forest
One of the first things you’ll notice when Steller’s jays are around is their unmistakable vocalizations. Their piercing, harsh “shaak-shaak-shaak” call easily carries across the forest canopy.
Complementing the raucous squawking is a repertoire of higher-pitched whistles and bells. Incredibly, these crafty corvids are also skilled at mimicking other bird calls with startling accuracy.
7. Happy Homebodies
Unlike many other bird species that travel hundreds or thousands of miles seasonally, Steller’s jays are largely non-migratory homebodies. They take up residence in coniferous and mixed forest habitats and remain within their established territories year-round.
The exception? Jays residing at extremely high elevations may move downslope during harsh winters if deep snow accumulation makes staying put too difficult.
8. Unintentional Helpers in Reforestation
While Steller’s jays bury seeds and nuts as stored food supplies for themselves, their caching behavior has an incredibly positive environmental impact. All those seed reserves sprouting from forgotten, long-buried caches play a pivotal role in regrowing plant life, trees, and vegetation in wake of forest fires or logging operations across their range.
9. Populations Holding Strong…for Now
Steller’s jays may face the usual anthropogenic threats like habitat loss and climate change, but the species is currently classified as being of “Least Concern” in terms of conservation status by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). (ref)
With any luck and proper habitat protections, these boisterous birds will continue to thrive across their range.
An Intelligent Wonder
The next time you find yourself in the mountain forests of western North America and hear that raucous, carrying “shaak-shaak-shaak,” look skyward for a fleeting glimpse of bright blue amidst the evergreens.
Few avian residents pack as much personality, color, and sheer character into such a relatively tiny, pint-sized package as the Steller’s jay!
Davin is a jack-of-all-trades but has professional training and experience in various home and garden subjects. He leans on other experts when needed and edits and fact-checks all articles.