It is a strong and healthy looking bird, noisy and boisterous at times, giving the impression of being independent and lawless.  They will mob predators and can aid in locating Hawks or Owls during the the day.  Their scream can be remarkably similar to that of the Red-shouldered Hawk.

The breeding habitat consists mainly of the oak forests of the eastern two thirds of the United States and southern Canada.  The Blue Jay has become much more prominent in city and suburban parks especially when oak trees are dominant.  Though seen all year round the Blue Jay is a migratory species.  When local birds migrate south, they are replace by migrating birds from the north which withdraw from the northern most region of their breeding habitat.

Courtship displays include a small flock of males following a female.  When they land on the ground the males will make a display of bobbing their heads.  These displays are thought to intimidate some of the males and the flock dwindles as some of the males drop out of the flock.  Courtship feeding of the female by the male also occurs.  Once a pair has bonded they become very quiet, staying near their nest in contrast to their usually raucous nature.

The clutch consists of four to six brown spotted greenish eggs that are laid in a coarsely build nest of sticks and twigs.  Sometimes several false nests will be built before the breeding nest is finally started.  These false nest rarely get beyond the stage of a loosely gathered platform of sticks.  The breeding nest which is built by both sexes is lined with grass and other fine material and is usually well hidden in the fork or crotch of a tree.  Conifer trees are sometimes favored as there dense foliage provides good camouflage.  The eggs are incubated almost entirely by the female for 18 days while the male will bring her food.  The young are cared for by both parents and fledge the nest about three weeks later.  The family unit may stay together until the next spring with the young sometimes begging for food from their parents.

Like its first cousin the Crow, the Blue Jay has always been a subject among casual birders.  The Blue Jay's reputation as a glutton at feeders and a robber of other birds' nests is not unfounded.  Those of us who maintain winter feeders are very familiar with its gluttony.  Unlike other birds that take one seed at a time the blue jay will appear to be making a hog of himself, gulping down dozens of sunflower seeds and disappearing for a few moments only to return to repeat this performance again and again.  Actually the seeds were not consumed at all.  They were cached in a nearby knothole or cavity, in much the same manner as a squirrel or chipmunk.  It is unknown just how many of the seeds are later retrieved but they are welcome emergency rations for a great many other birds and woodland mice.  Some seeds and acorns hidden in the ground may grow into plants and trees.

While their diet consist mostly of acorns, nuts, seeds and fruit, they also eat insects as well as invertebrates and small vertebrates and carrion.  In the spring, they add the disturbing habit of destroying the nests of smaller birds consuming the eggs or the nestlings.  Imitating the call of a hawk, the smaller birds run for cover while the Blue Jay destroys the nest.  As forests become more fragmented the Jay has more opportunity for this behavior and along with the Brown-headed Cowbird is at least partly responsible for the decline of Warblers and Vireos in the east.

The Blue Jays ability to learn is well documented in the classic work of Jane Van Zandt Brower.  She showed that Blue Jays after eating the distasteful Monarch butterfly would quickly learn to shun the similar in appearance but much more palatable Viceroy butterfly.   The evolution of the Viceroy to mimic the Monarch in appearance depends on this ability of birds to learn that the color and pattern of the Monarch is associated with a bad experience.

Length 12 Inches