Bird name:

Gray Jay

Perisoreus canadensis

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Crows and Jays (Corvidae)

Code 4

GRAJ

Code 6

PERCAN

ITIS

179667

Breeding Location:

Forests, coniferous, Forest edge

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Small colonies

Breeding Population:

Common to fairly common

Egg Color:

White to olive with olive and brown marks

Number of Eggs:

2 - 5

Incubation Days:

16 - 18

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Lined with moss, grass, sticks, bark, feathers, and fur., Fastened together with spider webs and insect cocoons.

Migration:

Nonmigratory

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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.

Breeding and 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.

Foraging and 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.

Readily Eats

Cracked Corn, Suet, Sunflower Seed

Vocalization

Gray Jay: Emits "whee-ah" and "chuck-chuck"; also gives scolding screams and whistles.

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.

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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.

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America