Order: Passeriformes
Family: Corvidae
Genus: Cyanocitta
Species:Cyanocitta stelarri

Inroduction

stellers jay edited smaller

Scientific Illustration of Steller’s Jay. Colored pencil and ink. Created by Jordan Marlor on 12/07/14.

The Steller ’s Jay is an easily recognizable medium to large songbird. The most distinguishable feature being its prominent triangular crest. It has a greyish black head, neck, breast, and back, with dark blue plumage elsewhere. It has a long tail and broad wings with narrow black barring on both. The bill is long, thick, and pointed, which is ideal for its foraging habits.

Adults have a blue supercilium or eyebrow, while the juveniles lack this distinguishing feature on their all black heads. It is difficult to differentiate which genderof jay you are looking at based off of plumage alone (Sibley 2003).

Steller’s Jays are common residents in coniferous and coniferous-deciduous forest and are well habituated to human environments where they inhabit neighborhoods, campgrounds, and parks.  They will feed from bird feeders and have a reputation for stealing unattended food.  The Steller’s Jay is a vociferous bird whose raucous call announces its presence often before it’s seen.

This jay is named after Georg Wilhelm Steller, a German botanist, zoologist, and explorer famous for his exploration of Alaska’s natural history during the 1740’s.  Along with the jay, Stellar discovered five additional species of birds and mammals including the extant Steller ’s Sea Lion and Steller’s Eider (Greene et al. 1998).

Distribution
Habitat
Food Habits
Sounds
Behavior
Population Trends and Conservation Issues
Field Research
Literature Cited