Steller’s Jay

Erika thinks this young Steller’s Jay is a bird only its mother could love. This is the first Steller’s Jay that I have banded. We ringed it on the evening of 13 July 2019 in our Olympia backyard. The strange thing is that this bird is only the second Steller’s Jay we have seen at our feeders. We had no clue the species was breeding in the vicinity. This discovery is especially puzzling, since these jays are usually relatively tame, common and noisy. This bird, as might be expected at this time of year, is molting into its basic, non-breeding plumage.