Birds · Passeriformes · Corvidae

Canada Jay

Perisoreus canadensis

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The Canada jay, better known as the gray jay, is a soft grey corvid of the North American taiga, famous for its complete trust in people: it will land on a hiker's hand to take food. It survives winters of forty below zero by storing thousands of items of food stuck to the trees with its saliva.

Weight

65 g – 80 g

Size

25 cm – 33 cm

Lifespan

19 years

Diet

Omnivore

Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

In pairs

Usually lives in pairs, sometimes for life.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

Temperate forestMountainTundraOmnivore Diurnal In pairs Bird Temperate forest Mountain Tundra

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Fun facts

It stores food by gluing it to branches with its saliva, which acts as a preservative: it makes tens of thousands of caches every summer and recovers them under the snow through the winter thanks to an extraordinary spatial memory.
It breeds in the depths of the boreal winter, in February and March, incubating eggs at thirty degrees below zero: it is one of the birds that breeds in the coldest conditions on the planet.
It is Canada's unofficial national bird following a public vote in 2016, although the official designation was never formalised.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: Boreal spruce and fir forest of Canada, Alaska and the northern United States
Sexual maturity: 12 months
Gestation / incubation: 17 days
Litter / clutch size: 3

Sources consulted: https://www.iucnredlist.org/ | https://animaldiversity.org/ | https://es.wikipedia.org/