Steller’s Jay

Steller’s Jay is the dark, crested jay of Northwest conifer forests, and its harsh, repeated calls are one of the most familiar sounds around campgrounds and picnic areas, where it is quick to look for handouts. In Oregon it lives year-round in wet and dry forests of conifers, or conifers mixed with broadleaf trees, from the lowest valleys nearly to timberline, typically at lower elevations than the Canada Jay.

It eats a little of everything. About two thirds of its diet is plant food, especially pine seeds, acorns, other nuts and berries, and the rest is animal food such as insects, spiders, bird eggs and nestlings, and the occasional small rodent or lizard. It cracks hard seeds by hammering them with its bill and hides extra nuts for later, taking care to cover each cache. It is also a good mimic and can copy the scream of a hawk.

Outside the nesting season Steller’s Jays travel in noisy groups and often cross clearings one at a time in a loose line. When nesting they turn quiet and secretive, building a bulky cup of twigs, moss and leaves cemented with mud, usually in a conifer. Some birds wander upslope in fall, and birds from high elevations often move downhill for the winter.