Visual and Acoustic Communication in the Blue Jay Cyanocitta Cristata
Geographic Range
Blue jays are native to the Nearctic region. They are common in southern Canada and in the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains. (Sanford 1984)
- nearctic
- native
Habitat
Blue jays prefer mixed woodlands, particularly those with clearings. They are also common in suburban areas and city parks. (Reilly 1968)
- temperate
- terrestrial
- forest
Physical Description
Blue jays are bright blue on top and whitish gray on the belly and chin. They have a gray-blue, feather crested head, which they can raise and lower. The feathers on their wings and tails are bright blue with white and black bands. Blue jays also have a collar of black feathers across the throat and continuing around the head. Their bills, legs, feet, and eyes are black. Males are just a little larger, on average, than females. Total body length ranges from 22 to 30 cm. (Reilly 1968)
- endothermic
- homoiothermic
- bilateral symmetry
- male larger
-
- Range mass
- 65 to 109 g
- 2.29 to 3.84 oz
-
- Range length
- 22 to 30 cm
- 8.66 to 11.81 in
Reproduction
Blue jays form long-lasting, monogamous pair bonds. These bonds usually last until one of the pair dies.
- monogamous
Blue jays build loose and untidy nests of barks, twigs, leaves, and grasses in trees and shrubs. The female lays three to six eggs at a time. These can be blue, green, or yellow, with brown or grey spots. The eggs must be incubated for 17 to 18 days. This is usually done by female, but in some cases males share in the incubation. Males provide food for females during incubation. Young fledge after 17 to 21 days and leave their natal range about 2 months after fledging. Blue jays may breed in their first year after hatching. (Zims 1956, Reilly 1968)
- iteroparous
- seasonal breeding
- gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
- sexual
- oviparous
-
- Breeding interval
- In the north, only one brood per year may be produced. In southern regions, however, Blue Jays may raise two broods each year.
-
- Breeding season
- Blue Jays breed from March through July.
-
- Range eggs per season
- 3 to 6
-
- Average eggs per season
- 4
- AnAge
-
- Average time to hatching
- 17 days
-
- Average time to hatching
- 17 days
- AnAge
-
- Range fledging age
- 17 to 21 days
-
- Average time to independence
- 3 months
-
- Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
- 1 years
-
- Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
- 1 years
Both males and females feed their nestlings. Young are able to feed themselves three weeks after they leave the nest, but stay with their parents for around two months after fledging.
- altricial
- pre-fertilization
- provisioning
- protecting
- female
- pre-hatching/birth
- protecting
- male
- female
- protecting
- pre-weaning/fledging
- provisioning
- male
- female
- protecting
- male
- female
- provisioning
Lifespan/Longevity
The oldest blue jay studied by researchers in the wild lived to be 17 years and 6 months old, most blue jays live to about 7 years old. One captive female lived for 26 years and 3 months.
-
- Range lifespan
Status: wild - 17.5 (high) years
- Range lifespan
-
- Range lifespan
Status: captivity - 26.25 (high) years
- Range lifespan
-
- Average lifespan
Status: wild - 7 years
- Average lifespan
-
- Average lifespan
Status: wild - 210 months
- Bird Banding Laboratory
- Average lifespan
Behavior
Blue jays are very aggressive and noisy birds,driving other birds away from food sources and their territories. In the winter, Blue jays hide far more food than they can eat, perhaps to remove food from their territories to discourage intruders. They are also partially migratory, and in the fall they can be seen traveling in flocks of more than a hundred birds. (Sanford 1984)
- flies
- diurnal
- motile
- migratory
- territorial
- social
Communication and Perception
Blue jays use bobbing motions when courting and when fighting. A signal of submission may be the "body-fluff" when the bird crouches down and fluffs up its feathers, holding the crest erect.
Blue jays have many calls. The one that is probably most familiar is the "jay" call for which it is named. This probably attracts other jays to join a flock or serves as an alarm call. Another call sounds like a rusty pump handle, and another sounds like a bell. Blue jays also make rattling sounds. In the spring you can hear very soft singing.
- visual
- acoustic
- visual
- tactile
- acoustic
- chemical
Food Habits
Blue jays are omnivorous. They feed on fruits, nuts, seeds, insects, mice, frogs, and will rob other nests for small songbirds and bird eggs. To eat nuts, blue jays hold them with their feet and then crack the shell with their bill. Blue jays in captivity have been known to fashion tools in order to get at foods. Blue jays will also steal foods from other birds by frightening them into dropping what they have. They cache foods, such as seeds, for later use. (Reilly 1968)
- omnivore
- birds
- mammals
- amphibians
- reptiles
- eggs
- insects
- terrestrial non-insect arthropods
- seeds, grains, and nuts
- fruit
- stores or caches food
Predation
Blue jays will actively defend their nests against predators. Both parents will attack and chase hawks, falcons, raccoons, cats, snakes, squirrels, and even humans away from their nests. Adult blue jays are often preyed on by various species of hawks, owls, and falcons. Nestlings are preyed upon by squirrels, cats, snakes, American crows, other jays, raccoons, opossums, and birds of prey, such as hawks.
-
- Known Predators
-
- hawks
- falcons
- owls
Ecosystem Roles
Because they hide seeds and nuts and sometimes forget to find and eat them, these birds probably help plants disperse their seeds.
- disperses seeds
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
Blue jays are active and bold birds, making it easy to observe their fascinating behaviors.
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
There are no direct negative effects of blue jays on humans, although they may act as a reservoir for West Nile virus.
Conservation Status
Blue jay populations are on the rise, and they are often very common where they occur. The range is expanding westward. Populations may have suffered somewhat in previous centuries as their wooded habitats were cleared and may suffer where epidemics of West Nile virus affect bird populations. Blue jays are corvids, which seem particularly susceptible to this virus. (Reilly 1968)
-
- IUCN Red List
- Least Concern
More information
-
- IUCN Red List
- Least Concern
More information
-
- US Migratory Bird Act
- Protected
-
- US Federal List
- No special status
-
- CITES
- No special status
-
- State of Michigan List
- No special status
Blue jays have been chosen as the mascot for many sports teams, including the Toronto Blue Jays, a professional baseball team.
(Reilly 1968)
Contributors
Tanya Dewey (editor), Animal Diversity Web.
Jake Frysinger (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Glossary
- Nearctic
-
living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.
- acoustic
-
uses sound to communicate
- altricial
-
young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.
- bilateral symmetry
-
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
- chemical
-
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
- diurnal
-
- active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
- endothermic
-
animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.
- forest
-
forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.
- iteroparous
-
offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).
- migratory
-
makes seasonal movements between breeding and wintering grounds
- monogamous
-
Having one mate at a time.
- motile
-
having the capacity to move from one place to another.
- native range
-
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
- omnivore
-
an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals
- oviparous
-
reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.
- seasonal breeding
-
breeding is confined to a particular season
- sexual
-
reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female
- social
-
associates with others of its species; forms social groups.
- stores or caches food
-
places a food item in a special place to be eaten later. Also called "hoarding"
- tactile
-
uses touch to communicate
- temperate
-
that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).
- terrestrial
-
Living on the ground.
- territorial
-
defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
References
Reilly, Edgar M. Jr. 1968. The Audubon Illustrated Handbook of American Birds. McGraw-Hill, New York. pp.307-308.
Sanford, William F. 1984. Academic American Encylopedia. Grolier Incorporated, Connecticut. p.343.
Zim, Herbert S. and Ira N. Gabrielson. 1956. Birds: A guide to the most familiar American birds. Golden Press, New York. pp.76, 142.
Source: https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Cyanocitta_cristata/
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