5 INTERESTING FACTS About Canada Jays (Gray Jays)

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[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

For anyone interested, here are the links to Prints of Peanut The Canada Jay :) www.etsy.com/ca/listing/649899116/peanut-the-gray-canada-jay-in-beautiful?ref=shop_home_active_1&frs=1 www.etsy.com/ca/listing/649898750/peanut-the-gray-canada-jay-in-beautiful?ref=listing-shop-header-0

[@jakepierson6208]

LesleytheBirdNerd cool jays and the blue jay has in influence in greaser culture want to know where?

[@jbirdnelson3818]

LesleytheBirdNerd thank you downloading that.. 🐦

[@NatureWitch]

I love you're videos so much! I've been seeing a red-bellied woodpecker and he was magnificent my first time seeing one. Do you get them by you? Also how do birds stay warm in the nights of winter?

[@ryanmurley3276]

LesleytheBirdNerd are you from Newfoundland?

[@yolazerbeam3205]

The Canada Jay are the friendliest birds I have ever seen in the wilderness. Not even a close 2nd place. Be careful of your lunch while taking a break eating a snack as they will come and swipe it while leaving you with the friendliest touch. Thank you for this wonderful video

[@allisonthompson9065]

Thank you!! I live in North Idaho and I love my birds!! ❤ They are such good creatures and love watching them and trying to understand them. Winters are really long here and I'm so grateful for these guys!

[@dixieh5555]

Love their eyes. You can see intelligence there!

[@cynthusinfinite]

I love these birds. I just met several on Mount Washington. Landing on my head and eating from my hand hulled sunflower seeds. They are beautiful. Whiskey Jacks. 😁

[@davidmccormick84]

I worked in the woods around Thompson, Manitoba a few years back and I would be out on the snow machine all day. I would always carry extra granola bars with me because the Jays would follow me around and have snacks with me. I have never known any other birds that will eat out of your hand on day one. They are a marvelous animal.

[@happycat0411]

Whiskey Jacks are quite tame and are extremely fun to feed by hand. Although their claws look a bit daunting the birds are really quite gentle when sitting on your hand eating bread and seeds. If you can get past the look of their claws and hold your stand still enough, feeding Whiskey Jacks is really quite a pleasant experience for all families who enjoy the outdoors all year round.

[@CenturianEagle]

I had to go back and watch this one again, these birds are so fascinating to me! Before seeing you talk about them I had never heard of them! Being in southern Ontario, we don’t get them here. They’re so cute too 🥰🥰🥰. Thanks for sharing

[@TommyCarbone]

Great video. Here in Maine, legend has it that river-drivers and lumbermen sometimes come back as Canada Jays. This is why we never deny a Whiskey Jack what they would like to steal from our camp supplies - they are simply covetous. They are also called gorbies and camp robbers. A wonderful essay was written by Maine ornithologist, Fannie Hardy Eckstorm on the bird and it can be read in the book, "Katahdin, Pamola, & Whiskey Jack - Stories and Legends from the Maine Woods.

[@benkempf298]

I saw a pair of these at Ethan. Pond tentsite in NH. They were so inquisitive, flying within inches of my son and I. They followed us all the way to our lean to. Never seen them before. Very interesting birds.

[@malcolmmomotiuk7744]

I called them whiskey jacks never even believed someone when they told me it was a jay. A great group of bird you can have around for entertainment. I really liked your videos they are very relaxed and easy to listen to the entire video! Thank you!

[@russelder9743]

Always some great info----I have never seen a Canada Jay before and knew nothing about them, I learned a lot... I am shocked that they have babies in March.........I always thought you people from the "Great White North" were some tough people ( always admired the toughness of your hockey players) but even your birds are tough lol.......you really have to write a book as you are a Bird Encyclopedia

[@itsokaytobeclownpilled5937]

I shudder to think if Canadians ever invaded the US. They would send Grandmother's and we would be put in training camps to learn manners.

[@colinmckillop5704]

I work in northern Alberta and see these guys every day at an oil battery I go to.I feed them daily and I'm sure they recognise me or my truck. I find them so cute and fascinating

[@samsen201]

What remarkable resilient bird.

[@oldcrow6990]

Saw one this morning. Seemed very light in coloring, but couldn't have been anything else. What a great way to wake up after a three day winter storm!

[@stevevassallo4323]

Thanks for reminding me about this great National Bird. We don’t see them in southern Ontario but my time in the Yukon (winter only) was made all the more pleasant by the abundance of these “Whiskeyjacks”.

[@neilpk70]

I've lived in northern Canada for 50 years, and always thought these guys were black capped chickadees who didn't ask for cheeseburgers. Thanks for the info Lesley!

[@nightjartheskywing]

Wow! Gray Jays are pretty interesting birds! I must say, fact #1 got me the most. I really wonder why they nest during the winter, where it would be much harder to thrive (despite their awesome ability to have a secret snack stash).

[@StormiidaeBlogspot]

My guess, it gives them all of spring, summer and fall to gather and store food rather than rearing babies.

[@nightjartheskywing]

Good point, Ursus. I think you might be right!

[@darontansley4998]

This is a wonderful video. I hike frequently in the White Mountains and am in awe of Canada Jay, always hoping to see them on certain mountains. I have been learning all I can about these birds. I love photographing them. I have some photos of one covering a food item in its sticky mucus, getting it ready for storage. I see the juveniles every year. They're so beautiful. But I've never seen a Canada Jay's nest.

[@BramSLI1]

That's some interesting information about these birds. I think my folks may have learned their parenting techniques from these Canada Jays. My little brother has become the most favored sibling and thus gets all of the rewards. These birds are amazing and thank you so much for sharing this video with us, Lesley!!!

[@Eyagsf]

As always ...very interesting Leslie. What a resourceful bird!

[@sigrios6507]

it is really nice watching those birds

[@penguinpie5056]

for serious I have seen these birds dry mushrooms use pine tree branches like a drying rack to preserve food for winter. very smart birds.

[@douglassudsbear7880]

The competition between the juveniles would be a survival trait in a environment with limited food stocks. Thanks for the all the info on these amazing birds.

[@edwardfontaine1778]

I saw one the other day on my hike ontop a mountain. It looked much like an enormous chickadee. They are certainly friendly like chickadees. I wish I hadn't forgotten to bring some seeds. You're videos are great!

[@DG-kq8zf]

I just KNEW you'd have something on the Canada jay! I was reminiscing when my daughters were little and they got to hand feed some after a bit of patience. I told them not to look at them directly so they wouldn't feel threatened. This was at Patricks Point in northern california. In blue spruce/redwood forest right on the coast. I think that is the most extreme point of their range. Coolest birds ever. Not a nuisance like their cousin like the Stellar's jay. 😂

[@bertanelson8062]

Most interesting that these Canada Jays nest when the weather is still so cold! These are the birds I know as camp robbers, I think! Thanks for your wonderful informative video!

[@justgonnastay]

Camp robbers and whiskeyjacks are some of the things they are called.

[@jumpninthedarkalley]

2:35... That bird has lightning fast reflexes for not being able to see below his chin.

[@EdmundAcuto]

Thanks for that. This Canadians favourite bird. Particularly like the fact that it toughs it out throughout the hardest of Canadian winters.

[@diandra016]

Beautiful! Thank you for sharing!

[@jackiehiebert7064]

Thanks for these videos and all your work. These are some of my favourite birds since childhood, feeding the whisky jacks is such a highlight of our skiing trips and hikes in the mts.

[@justgonnastay]

I love these birds! Just this weekend I saw a behavior I had never seen in them. We were processing an elk in the field, and we set out chunks of fat for the Jays to help them through the winter. They greedily dug in. On a couple of occasions we witnessed a bird take a very large chunk of fat in it's beak then transfer it to their claws as soon as they took off. We were fascinated as no one had ever seen this before. Have you seen them do this?

[@d.hoffman6448]

Great info! Didn't know any of it. All of it was interesting and makes me wonder how any survive.

[@georgepelekoudis]

Fascinating the amount of work they go through to store food. And they remember all the hiding spots too! Thanks for the documentary!

[@Erika-pf2eu]

Lesley 💕 I love this remarkable footage! It's amazing how they nest so early in the year. What dedication to their young in such a cold climate. Thank you for sharing!

[@SKKEarth]

Beautiful.Thanks for sharing this.

[@skepticalmechanic]

I hope you have a personal life too... you sure spend a lot of time with the birds...

[@msgambate88]

another Lesley video and I'm feeling the zen, thanks Lesley....

[@BioBush]

What an interesting bird! Nesting during the cold months is obviously a challenge, but it must have huge benefits in freeing them up to gather food with their young early in the season. And the juveniles would have a little more time to mature before the next winter. Thanks for compiling this information and presenting it in an interesting way!

[@sherylboivin1967]

Love my "Whiskey Jacks". We had a pair at our hunt camp for a few years but they seemed to have disappeared the last two much to our dismay!

[@candiejo3869]

OMGosh they are so cute!! That is a lot of food caching! Wow!! Great video as always Lesley! Thanks!! 🐦🐦

[@THEBIGLEBOTSKI74]

Super interesting! Thanks for sharing

[@chihuahuabulldog]

Wow! Amazing little critters! I'm not sure which most impressed me. Perhaps the way they store so much food. I love how they insulate their nests. Many years ago, I had a friend that had two large, hairy dogs (one a Chow Chow). When I would visit in early spring, I would help comb out their shedding hair. She lived on a mountain with tons of woods around. Birds would come get that shed hair. Sometimes we would look out the window and see the birds take hunks of hair straight off the dogs! The dogs did not mind. Thank you for the continuing education on birds.

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Omg that is so sweet about the birds coming to take the shed fur and even sometimes right off of the dogs. WOW

[@chihuahuabulldog]

I seemed like the very good-natured dogs appreciated the help from the birds.

[@jennifercox2837]

Fascinating. This is all new information to me, as we don't have these jays in the Philly area, where I live. I do remember jays that looked similar in Washington State, when we visited a park near Mount St. Helens. (Though not sure if they are the same.) I remember the jays didn't fly away as I approached as other jay species do. They seemed very bold and intelligent . I have had many blue jays that breed in my area and bring their young to my platform feeder for the last few years. I have come to realize how high the mortality rate is for juvenile blue jays, who (as I learned from one of your videos...and have witnessed myself) band together in groups in the fall, to support one another, after their parents have "kicked them out". It sounds like the life of juvenile Canada Jays is even tougher. Thanks for this great, informative video.

[@tinamariefarmer4419]

aww... him on your head??? biggest smile ever! so precious! they really do look like chicadees

[@locksbog4270]

Very interesting, they resemble the shrike a bit. 👍👍👍😃

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

I find that too :)

[@flashlitestriker4028]

Wow! How SURPRISED (& saddened) I was, finding out that 80% of the babies DON'T MAKE IT, there in the 5th part of this VERY informative video! Gosh... if only there could be a way to attract, & capture for pet songbirds, the poor precious "rejects" (to VERY caring families, of course!) The fact that they just "die of poverty" breaks my bird-loving heart!

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

I hear you. It's very heartbreaking ☹

[@brianreynolds1098]

Thanks to you, Leslie, for putting this out there. As a birder myself, I did not know much about the Canada Jay. Now I do! Well done!

[@GrnXnham]

This is the only wild bird that I've ever had land on, and eat out of, my hand while out enjoying nature. I found that they can get pretty aggressive if you feed them once and then try to stop feeding them. This is probably where the name "camp robber" came from.

[@reslhuff]

I was amazed the most about the Canada Jay finding the thousands of stored food items. Wow!

[@graphguy]

Another beautiful educational video!

[@Xxx01dijfn]

I sense some sexism with these damn birds!

[@lyndagrandmason4392]

thanks, Lesley 🐦.. great video (as usual😊) .. the thing i found most incredible is the huge amount of food they hide away, & that they can remember where it all is throughout the year! wish my memory was that good! 🌞 oh, & the babies are SO cute too😊

[@michaelpeila8794]

I hope I get to make friends with the wild birds in my area like you do! Every video is a jaw dropper!

[@jumpninthedarkalley]

Great info. Would take years to learn this studying them as an individual. Love these birds, I never see them in the city, only in the bush!

[@mrsjudys]

The fact that they remember where their thousands of food stashes are located. I can't remember what's in my pantry.

[@lostbooks2918]

😂👍

[@2s26]

right!! i can’t stop thinking about this

[@NorthernThinker]

Thank you. My cat and I thoroughly enjoyed that.

[@georgeian3243]

They seem to prefer Larch trees - one of my favourites. Thanks Lesley, very informative.

[@nancylattie4171]

Great video. I always learn a lot watching your channel. Thanks.

[@CharismaticPlanet3822]

a very informative video of Canada Jays. You have done a great work. This bird is pretty interesting.

[@141moose]

Always enjoy learning something new, all five Gray Jay facts were interesting and entertaining, love your videos!

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Hey thanks a lot :)

[@IEnjoyCreatingVideos]

Great video Lesley! always enjoy watching your videos thanks for sharing them with us.👍😎JP

[@goofycawfee]

These birds follow me everywhere! They always approach me and I was curious to find out about them, lovely birds ❤️❤️

[@Martinelolo]

Merveilleux Merci et bravo!

[@fritomatt4329]

I love Gray Jays!

[@dennisfeldmann7399]

Another Awesome video.!!!! Your the Best.

[@virgilcaine3291]

Happy video

[@toddberg3892]

Survival by strength and intelligence- interesting to see how the strongest juvenile stays with the parents, then learns how to survive. Thanks for the info! Cool to see the detail of the eye too. (BTW- nice headshot 😀)

[@woodslore4672]

My favorite Birds

[@organtunes]

Another fascinating, fact filled video. I think I liked the part where you explained how the Jay wets its food then hides it in the tree, covering it up. I didn't know anything about Canada Jays. As usual, I learned a lot. How long do you think their cache of food lasts & do their chicks ever find any of their folks' hidden seeds? Love your work, Lesley! ♥

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Thank you so much!

[@romanis6660]

While living alone for a summer in the wilderness near Wawa, Ontario a Gray Jay adopted me. She hung around most of the time and when I was eating she would dive down and steal my food just as I was ready to put it into my mouth. The Cree word for Gray Jay is Wihsakecahkw and so Canadians call them the Whisky birds.

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

This is awesome and thanks a lot for sharing your story. This comment comes while I am working on a new 10 cool facts on Canada Jays video and in it, I talk about the Cree and Algonquin names

[@rach360]

Came across this because I saw one in my balcony today. It was not a blue one but grey features, white strip on the wings, small beak, cute sparrow like face but larger size and spikey hair. So I guess it is a grey jay. The fact that they go on maternity in winter end and work all summer is so human 😅. Seems logical. As an animal, you could hardly do stuff outside. Why not just breed and spend quality time with family?! That was my favorite part.

[@lostbooks2918]

Great mamas and super cute

[@debijane6747]

I would love to rescue, raise and tame a rejected juvenile female! I am reading about a delightful pair in a book by Michael Crummey.

[@SW13333]

Lesley - I had no idea about the interesting facts of the Canadian Gray Jay. Strange how only one juvenile remains with the parents until autumn - usually a male - maybe the parents know he will help store food for the next winter? 80% of others that don't stay with the parents- usually females - don't survive? There has to be a good reason for that. Nesting in the below freezing cold snow 😯 - they're smart by gathering food when it's plentiful and storing it. Thanks for the video👍- Stephanie

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

You could be on to something there because when the parents have another brood the next spring, the juvenile that has stayed with them all winter actually will help feed the fledglings. It's crazy how much the odds are against the poor ones that get ejected, and you would think there has to be a good reason for that although I can't think of what it could be. Especially since in some areas, the population of gray jays is steadily declining which is thought to be related to the change in our climate because of how the birds rely on cold temperatures to preserve their cached food items. I'm so glad you enjoyed all these interesting facts about the lovely Gray Jay(Canada Jay) Getting to know the life of other animals on this planet can be a humbling experience.

[@SW13333]

@@LesleytheBirdNerd - If 80% of the females that are made to leave at 50 or 60 days after hatching - this has to be helping contribute to their numbers going down - It's colder the last 3 winters where I'm located. I hope they discover why this is occurring with Gray Jays (Just found out they're now Canada's bird) :) They are similar to their cousins the Blue Jays whose entire family stay together for close to a year - Gray Jays only allow one to stay for a few months into the next autumn. Your pictures of Peanut on your Etsy site are beautiful.👍- Stephanie

[@jamesledzepplin7839]

used to see them regularly in Eastern nb. haven't seen one in years

[@IlarioSchanzer]

Beautiful ... I L♥VE This Video ..!!!!!

[@lisavoyce6775]

I LOVE PEANUT!!

[@sassiebrat]

My fav? 1-5...sorry, I cannot pick just one!

[@clintwolf4495]

Great video, as always. It just shows that birds are incredibly intelligent. It’s also another reminder that some birds are far wiser than humans in certain areas. As an example, if we were given a thousand pieces of candy and taken to a forest, and told to hide each piece in a separate location (and hide the candy), how many pieces could we come back and find? Not many.

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

So true Clint and in the study they actually said the same thing, that people couldn't remember all those hidden food items if they had to. Yet the gray jay can and do. Awesome birds 🐥

[@jeremymmrobinson]

Thanks for the informative video! I have a pack of these guys wintering around my place on the Oregon Coast (a couple miles inland from the beach). Very moderate temperatures, compared to other areas in their wide northern range. I've accepted their invitation to become friends, and we're getting along nicely so far! ;-)

[@jesusfeathers3477]

Man, now I wish we had Canada Jays here in the Colorado Rockies region, OORAH! for the Corvids!

[@namewitheld]

#6 They really, really like raisins.

[@whateveriam12]

"They may mistaken Canada Jays as an oversized Chickadee" LOL XD

[@jbirdnelson3818]

Every time a bell rings, an angel gets it's wings... God bless America! RIP George Bush... Merry Christmas everyone.

[@jenniferskiff1637]

I am amazed at how good their memories are in order to survive. Their brain size is not relative to the capabilities they have.

[@normdokis4859]

They've been extinct in my area for about 15yrs, sad because I grew up with them all around me

[@thebrain9384]

Many birds stash food, they never actually get to it all some grows to help supply the future generations.Birds are more advanced than us, They fly, and help the environment. Horses are also re-seeders, Cows are not. Their choice of nesting material intrigues me, do they include fermenting material to take advantage of the heat produced?

[@caveman3021]

A friend of mine used to work in the bush and he had one of these come to him to bum food off him while he ate his lunch. It would sit on the edge of his lunchbox, and he knew it was the same one because sadly it was missing a leg😥

[@americo9999]

that's a very big chickadee, I've never seen one so big before :D

[@jeffaelick1172]

I feed the all the time in winter they love meat a lot but I did not know they nest in winter

[@marysunshine8371]

there's a robin nesting now on the back of my house...so protective and sweet....we have bluejays here too....how to make them more comfy and do they get along with robins?

[@phillange166]

Inuit say that ravens are the very first animals to do courtship and to mate in the Spring---even before mammals. Could this early courtship tendency by true for all/most corvids? Maybe?

[@tinamariefarmer4419]

love from Virginia sweetie 😍

[@infinitecanadian]

Can they really remember all of the locations that they stash their food? One of the things plants need is for animals who stash food to forget some of the locations, so it is doubtful that they can remember where _all_ of it is, or there would not be so many plants.

[@splushieputt7823]

btw what is a malt?

[@toocat2000000]

Never heard them called "Canada Jays or Grey Jays" ever. Out here in BC they are just "Whiskey Jacks". Nice video though.

[@corymcgrath5652]

Correct if I am wrong, are these birds also referred to as Whiskey Jacks?

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Yes :)

[@grayjay11o57]

I have a new blue jay that needs a name, does anyone have any suggestions?

[@elflordsjourneys]

In my younger days I did a lot of backpacking in Oregon and we always had grays following us to raid our camp thus we called them camp robbers,they look a little different though if I remember. You said you have no cardinals up there ,why not?😀

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

I'm not sure why we don't have them but maybe one day they'll be here too ☺