Canada Jay

These photos, taken on 20 February 2021, are not the most wonderful images. I share them because this record is only our second for this jay since our moving to Olympia. Erika and I found two or three birds near Kennedy Creek in nearby Mason County. The second photo shows a jay throwing itself off its perch, later opening its wings to land on a nearby branch. 

Canada Jays are birds of northern North America and the Rocky Mountains. They survive by caching reserve food supplies under tree bark and, using their sticky saliva, beneath lichens. Stranger yet, Canada Jays breed in the late winter, even by early February. They are known to incubate eggs when outdoor temperatures are as low as -30˚ C. They do not attempt second broods when the weather is warmer. Strickland and Ouellet (2020) suggest that Canada Jay populations are declining in the southern edge of their range due to global warming causing the jays’ food storage to spoil.