Steller's Jay Facts

Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)

What they look like: Adults: Head and neck all around and back are black. Their beak and feet are also black. From the neck down they are blue. Blue Jays are about the same size of a robin or about half the size of a pigeon. Blue Jays are also about the same size as an apple. Young: birds are darker and the blue portions are not as bright blue.

Where they live: Pacific coast from southern California to Alaska; resident and breeding throughout it's range.

What they eat: In the fall, winter, and spring their food consists largely of acorns, chestnut, berries, seeds, grain, insect, lizards etc., but during the summer months they eat eggs and young of the smaller birds, their taste for which, being so great that they are known to watch a nest until all of the eggs are laid before making their theft.

Nesting: Their nests are made of a bunch of tiny sticks stuck together with mud and lined with fine rootlets placed 6 to 30 feet high in evergreen trees. That means their nests could be low enough for an adult to grab standing on the ground to as high as 3 basketball hoops on top of each other. They lay about 3 to 5 eggs. The eggs are the color of the sky on a sunny day. Their eggs also have light brown spots on them. Blue Jays usually lay their eggs from April to May.