English name : Gray Jay
French name : Mésangeai du Canada
Latin name : Perisoreus Canadensis
Breadth : 46cm
Length : 29cm
Weight : 70g
Resembles a large chickadee. Cheeks, throat and forehead white with back of the head black. Tail and back grey, pale stomach. Small beak. Downy feathers. Young ones almost all dark grey with white mustache. Voluntarily approaches humans to eat out of their hands.
HABITAT
Coniferous forests mainly, sometimes in mixed forests.
NESTING
The Gray Jay’s nesting preference is in conifers ranging between 1.8m and 2.4 from the ground. The nest is a massive construction made with a base of twigs, grass, plant stems, small twigs, caterpillar cocoons, moss, leaves and tree bark; the interior is decorated with a thick layer of fine grass, feathers, animal hair, moss, and vegetable down. Both sexes share in the construction of the nest. Exterior diameter : 17.8 – 20.3 cm Height : 7.6 – 12.7 cm. Interior diameter : 7.6 – 8.9 cm Depth : 5.1 – 6.4 cm
Eggs, appr. three (3) or four (4) : 29 x 21 mm, oval. The shell is smooth and slightly glossy, at times it is very glossy, pale green to grayish green marked with dark olive green specks over the entire surface of the egg, sometimes there is a concentration of specks around the cap. Incubation is assured by the female in April for approximately 16 to 18 days and begins with the laying of the first egg. Education is assured by both sexes and for the first 5 days the female remains with the nest to ensure protection while the male brings back nourishment. Fifteen (15) days later, the chicks leave the nest.
Royal Alberta Museum : Eggs of Albert
FOOD
Seeds, berries, insects, worms.
Your charter of the preferred food of your birds
MIGRATION
Sedentary
Cornell Ornithology Lab
Websites for additional information:
United States : Cornell Ornithology Lab
The Museum of Civilization : Audubon, Pain, Nature, Adventure