The Blue Jay

The Blue Jay is a large song bird measuring 9 to 12 inches in length. It has a pronounced crest on its head. The crown of feathers can be raised or lowered according to the bird's mood. When excited or aggressive, the crest may be fully raised and when frightened, the crest bristles outward.

The Blue Jay is bright blue on top and white to gray on its throat, chest and belly. It has black and white bars on its wings and tail. The bill, legs and feet are black and a black "necklace" on its lower throat. Juveniles are similar to adults except the blue areas are grayer and the black has a brown tinge.

Blue Jays prefer deciduous, mixed forests, and woodlands. They are common in urban and suburban areas especially where large oaks are predominant.

Throughout the summer Blue Jays can be found from southern Canada, down the eastern half of the United States to the Gulf Coast. There are small, pockets of Blue Jays as far west as Washington State.

They are partially migratory with some migrating and others not. Some Blue Jays migrate one year and not the next.

Blue Jays nest in trees and shrubs. The female builds a nest of sticks and twigs. It's lined with grass. The female lays four to six bluish eggs with brownish spots. The eggs are predominately incubated by the female, but both the male and female feed the chicks.

Blue Jays are omnivorous. They eat fruit, acorns, seeds, nuts, even mice and frogs. They have even been known to raid the nests of other birds eating the eggs and their young.

When feeding at birdfeeders, Blue Jays are a backyard bullies. They chase the smaller birds away until they've had their fill. Blue Jays cache seeds and acorns to eat later, but often forget where they buried them. They do a wonderful job of spreading seeds and planting a new crop of trees.

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The Blue Jay is a very vocal bird. They make a number of different calls including its distinctive jay-jay. It growls when it's irritated, and chatters when its not. The Blue Jay has whistles and gurgling sounds in its repertoire as well.

Listen to the song of the Blue Jay: Sound Byte: Blue Jay, National Park Service

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The Blue Jay is both aggressive and territorial. Group of Blue Jays will attack intruders and predators that move into their territory.

If the weather is mild and the food plentiful, Blue Jays may winter over in their breeding grounds. But when they do migrate, they form loose flocks of 5 to 250 traveling only during daylight hours.

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