Brash, blue and beautiful
The charismatic Blue Jay livens up backyards and forest preserves like no other songbird
(published 11-26-25)
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| Blue Jay by Jackie Bowman |
Let’s discuss Blue Jays instead. In all my years of writing
“Words on Birds” this is a first. Hard to believe, really, considering how much
I love the species. I even have a son named Jay! (I love him, too).
Jays seem to be unusually abundant this fall. In the neighborhood
and during a recent trip to New England I heard and saw a ton of them. Multiple
jays in some places qualified as a band, a party, or scold.
A scold of Blue Jays seems perfect given the bird’s loud and
raucous nature. It doesn’t sing, it shouts. Like other members of the corvid
family, including crows, the Blue Jay is conspicuous, except during breeding periods
when it goes silent.
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| Audubon's Blue Jay painting depicts the species as a nest-raiding bully, but eggs and nestlings are not part of a jay's regular diet. (Courtesy John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove, Montgomery County Audubon Collection, and Zebra Publishing. |
Blue Jays perform a wide variety of creative vocalizations. If
you hear something odd and unfamiliar it’s often a jay. Their vocal talents
include mimicry, with hawks being a specialty. Look around if you hear the
scream of a red-tail—a mischievous jay might be messin’ with ya.
The jay’s vibrant plumage features a striking combination of
blues, violet, black and white. When I was a kid, a Blue Jay tail feather was a
coveted find. I saved them, of course, not knowing it was illegal!
It’s a wonder to me that such a common and beautiful species
as the Blue Jay was never claimed as a state bird—a missed opportunity to be
sure.
Perhaps the jay lost a few votes owing to its bully
reputation. No doubt it’s The Boss at backyard feeding stations. When the
11-inch Blue Jay comes swooping in the smaller birds scatter. Red-bellied
Woodpecker is usually the only customer to hold its ground.
John J. Audubon’s dramatic Blue Jay painting (circa 1830) depicts the species raiding a nest and feasting on egg yolks. Some believe jays have endured an image problem ever since. While Blue Jays will indeed consume eggs and baby birds—robin nests are especially vulnerable—studies show that such proteins are not a regular part of their diet. Insects, nuts and seeds are their staples.
Jays are famous for caching food for later use, acorns in particular. The habit is believed helpful in the replenishment of oaks and other mast-producing trees. Jays, while highly intelligent like other corvids, can’t remember every place they bury a nut.
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| The hybrid "grue jay" in the middle photo resulted from a Blue Jay (left) mating with a Green Jay (right). Courtesy, from left: Travis Maher, Cornell Lab of Ornithology/Macaulay Library; Brian Stokes/University of Texas at Austin; Dan O'Brien, Cornell Lab of Ornithology/Macaulay Library. |
We see Blue Jays in the Chicago region throughout the year. They
do migrate, but seasonal jay movements are variable and not well understood by
researchers. Range expansion is happening into the Pacific Northwest, where the
dominant jay species is Steller’s, the only other crested jay in the United
States. The two occasionally interbreed.
In September, we learned about a “grue jay” discovered in Texas, the offspring of a Blue Jay father and Green Jay mother. Ornithologists think climate change played a role, pushing the Green Jay’s range northward as the Blue Jay expanded west. Range overlap now occurs in the San Antonio area, where the hybrid bird was spotted and briefly captured for study.
To learn more about Blue Jays and listen to their wide range of calls, visit AllAboutBirds.org, a free resource provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.