(Cyanocitta stelleri)
The Steller Jay, with its deep blue and black plumage and a shaggy crest, is stunning and attractive, but very noisy. Its front part is black, and its rear is deep blue.
The dark shade of the front part of its body extends down its back, and its breast and wings have a faint dark stripe. One distinguishing trait of the Steller Jay is the vertical blue eyebrows present above each eye of the adult bird. The male and female jays look alike.
The Stellar Jay generally likes to build its nests in dense coniferous forests. Both the male and the female birds help to build the cup-like nest from moss, twigs, weeds and leaves held together with mud. The linings for the nest are normally provided by rootlets, pine needles, and other fine materials.
Typically, the female lays up to 5 eggs, which she incubates for up to 18 days. Feeding the young is the responsibility of both the male and the female. After 16 days, these young birds leave the nest to find their own food. They begin taking short flights as a fledgling, but after 30 days, they are capable of sustained flights. Despite this, however, the adult Steller Jay will stash its food all summer long in the crotches of tree branches and then forget where it put most of it. continue to provide food for the fledglings for about another month.
Steller’s Jays form monogamous pair bonds that last for a long time. Once mated, the pair always move around their territory together. They help one another build their nest, and while the female is incubating, the male bird guards the nest and his partner. Once the eggs are hatched, both the male and female provide the young birds with food. The male bird guides its offspring as they learn how to fly.
Their diet is made up of seeds, nuts, berries, fruits, bird eggs, nestlings, invertebrates, suet, small rodents, reptiles, and carrion. Steller jays also eat any leftovers or scraps that humans throw their way.
They are often seen in parks and picnic areas loudly begging for food and scraps in a loud and raspy voice. Extremely vocal outside the nesting season, these birds can be extremely quiet when they are in the process of preying on their young. Intelligent and aggressive, the steller’s jay is very active at feeders, especially those full of peanuts, which it caches for later consumption.
The Steller Jay will stash its food all summer long in the crotches of tree branches and then forget where it put most of it. This is a great benefit to other birds that use these stashes during the Island’s winter.