The Blue Jay is a first-rate representative of the corvid family, as it is a noisy, bold and intelligent bird. Its loud alarm warns other birds and mammals of danger in the area. Sometimes a group will mob an owl, hawk, cat or other predator. It may dominate a bird-feeding station, by chasing the smaller birds away. It will often bury seeds or acorns or cache them in the loose bark of trees, to be eaten later.

Length: 25 to 28 cm
Physical characteristics: This bird has a blue crest and upperparts, with white wing markings. The breast is a gray-white. There is a black line through the eye and around the neck. The bill and legs are dark in color. Sexes are similar.
Voice: Song has many variations, most commonly a loud jay! or jay! jay!. Also, a clear, whistled queedle, queedle.

Breeding habitat: deciduous and mixed coniferous/deciduous forests, parks and residential areas are preferred nesting areas.

Mating system: monogamous; one brood is produced in the northern portions of its range, 2 to 3 in the south.

Nest: the nest is usually found from 5 to 25 feet from the ground, often in a coniferous tree, on a horizontal branch or in a crotch. It is a cup shape and built by both the male and female of twigs, bark strips, cloth, paper, feathers and sometimes cemented with mud. The Blue Jay may forcibly seize the nest of another species of passerine for its own use.

Eggs: 4 - 5 eggs are laid in a clutch. The color may vary from clutch to clutch, from greenish or bluish to yellowish, and marked with browns. 28mm (1.1 in).

Chick development:
Incubation lasts from 16 to 18 days. Mostly the female incubates, but in some cases the male may assist. Males typically feed the female during incubation. The chicks are born altricial. Both sexes care for the young, who can fledge from 17 to 21 days after hatching. While the fledglings will begin to search for food for themselves after about three weeks, they may remain with the parents up to four months.

Diet: The Blue Jay is omnivorous; its diet consists of fruits, nuts, seeds (especially acorns), insects, other small invertebrates and vertebrates and sometimes other birds' eggs and nestlings. A Blue Jay will often hold nuts or seeds with its feet and crack them open with its bill. Blue Jays store food, mostly in the winter. Conservation Biology: the Blue Jay is fairly common over most of its range. It is quite tolerant of humans and a frequent visitor to bird feeders. Its populations are expanding to the west, particularly in urban and suburban areas. This species is an uncommon cowbird host.

Breeding: The Blue Jay is commonly found east of the Rockies in southern Canada and the United States.
Winter: This species is partially migratory, particularly in its northernmost range. In the late summer and fall, the birds will travel in small flocks or family groups; they may form quite large flocks when migrating.

The Blue Jay is a year round, common resident in the Park, particularly at mid elevations and along the boundaries of the park. Blue Jays are found in a variety of habitats and are most likely to be observed below 5,000 feet.

A survey of breeding birds in the park, performed from 1996-1999, ranked Blue Jays as the 24th most common species out of 113 species observed during the breeding season. The map on the left shows the actual locations of Blue Jay observations during the survey. Estimates from this survey indicate that overall Blue Jay density in the park during the breeding season is approximately 0.032 pairs per/hectare. Blue Jay density increases with elevation with highest densities occurring between 3,000 - 5,000 feet above which density drops markedly.

References:

Alsop, F. J. 1991. Birds of the Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association, Gatlinburg, TN.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2002. Forty-third supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 119: 897-906.

Ehrlich, P. R, D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook: a Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York.

Elphick, C, J. B. Dunning, Jr., and D. A. Sibley, eds. 2001. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Gough, G. A., Sauer, J. R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html.

Sibley, D. A. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Stupka, A. 1963. Notes on the birds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. University of Tennessee Press.

Tarvin, K. A. and G. E. Woolfenden. 1999. Blue Jay. In The Birds of North America, No. 469 (A. Poole, P. Stettenheim, and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, DC: The American Ornithologists? Union.