Blue Jay

The Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to eastern North America. It lives in most of the eastern and central United States; some eastern populations may be migratory. Resident populations are also in Newfoundland, Canada; breeding populations are found across southern Canada. It is widespread in residential areas and breeds in both coniferous and deciduous woodlands. It features a crest that is primarily blue with white underparts and a blue-collar around its neck. There is also a black border around the crest. Males and females are roughly the same size and have year-round uniformity in their plumage. There are now four recognized subspecies.

The blue jay primarily eats soft fruits, seeds, nuts, including acorns, which it may bury to consume later, arthropods, and sporadically small vertebrates. It normally forages for food on the ground, in bushes and trees, and occasionally it hawks insects out of the air. Other birds have been beheaded by blue jays, who occasionally raid nests and are quite violent towards them. Both sexes take part in the construction of an open cup nest in a tree's limbs. The eggs, which are blue or light brown with darker brown markings, can range in number from two to seven in the clutch. The female cares for the altricial young for 8 to 12 days after they hatch. They might spend one to two months with their parents.