Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Coffee At Steve’s Country #37. The Gray Jay.
Good morning everyone on this very chilly Saturday. Time to grab a coffee, or tea, and relax with Muffin and I for a few minutes. It’s -21F (-29C), but with the windchill it’s actually -42F (-41C), and believe me, it is cold out there. I got cold just in the short time I was out putting fresh seeds out for the birds. That wind is bad, it always makes things worse. Those poor little birds out there this morning. And it’s going to get worse yet. But it is going to warm up this afternoon to -13F (-25C), if that can be considered warming up.
But it’s nice to be inside where it’s warm, watching the birds and listening to the booming and banging of the frost in the wood. It sure gets loud at times! Well, today we are going to look at one of my favorite birds, the gray jay. They are not colorful like other jays, they have a short bill whereas most jays have long bills and they are a weaker flyer than other jays. But they make up for these things with having a much nicer personality than other jays. They are very friendly birds, easily attracted to feeders and will, with just a little coaxing, land on a person’s hand to get food.
I have had them on my hand, arm, head and take food from my lips as well. They get very friendly with people in a short while and even their young will do the same. They can be found right across Canada, into Alaska and in the mountains as far south as California and Arizona. They are much quieter than other members of the crow and jay family, but still have many call notes and at least one song which is a series of soft musical notes sung by both sexes to each other. They are excellent at mimicking predators, such as hawks, to warn their mates and young of danger nearby. Their territory is generally around 65 to 70 hectares (160 to 172 acres), and they will stay on that territory their entire lives. Gray jays don’t migrate, even in their furthest northern part of their range. During the summer months when food is plentiful they will store food by first covering it thoroughly with their special saliva and then hiding it behind bark or under lichen or moss.
They never have large caches of food however, instead they spread it out evenly throughout their territory. By doing this they never lose large amounts of food to other birds or mammals that may find it. And they have remarkable memories, able to find this food again over the winter months. They begin nest building in early February and the female can be sitting on eggs by the end of February to the middle of March. During this time the male feeds her totally. It is not unusual for the female to be sitting on eggs with the temp at -30 or for the parents to be feeding young in a raging blizzard. It is not really fully understood why they breed so early in the year. But their hidden food stores do allow them the ability to do this successfully. Instead of making this post too long, I will do a second part tomorrow. These are just such interesting birds. Have a wonderful Saturday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
Unbelievably chilly 🥶
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Yes, but only for a few days, or more.🙄🥶🙀
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Thank goodness
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Seems this cold is going to last longer than the original forecast.😳
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Great grey Jay is unbelievable, I’m impressed with this birds ability and their way of living. Friendly, brave intelligent and able to live in same place for years. Remarkable 😍 and ah your climate why 😳 why it is getting so cold 🙄 I wish I could give you summer, I knew you are warm, but stay warm 🤗 Have a lovely day .. look at my competitor, she stole my first place today 😂😉 Lovely isn’t it 😁
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Yes, they are remarkable birds, that’s why I like them so much. It warmed up to -28 today,🥶 I wonder how cold it will be tomorrow?🤔 Hopefully this will be the last of the cold weather this winter.😬🥶 We should be warming up a bit by next weekend anyway.🤪 I hope. Happy not first!😂 I think it’s all the coffee today.🙄 Or something. Off to bed for me.😴🌙 I think I said that already. Oh well.😳🙄
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Exactly, and as you said there is more to come 😍 I’ll wait for that. Cold cold cold 🙄 this is … what can I say… you are an Ontarioan 😅 and u enjoy it, what else I could comment, yes I got one point, coffee 😳😁 May your coffee disappear 😜 ha ha 😅😂
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I need coffee in this cold!😳☕ Lots of coffee!😁☕☕ And even more coffee!😄☕☕☕ COFFEE,☕ COFFEE,☕ COFFEE!!!☕☕☕☕ It’s the cold weather, 🥶🥶🥶makes me do it.🙄🙄 It’s -47C!!!!🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶
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how impressive that you have gotten the gray jay to take food from you!
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Yes, many times, even their young ones once they are flying around have done so. It is really quite amazing!
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someone needs to film this!
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Yes, I wish I could get it done, but I don’t know anyone that is interested enough to spend some time here to get some pics. The birds don’t come the same time each day, always different times, so it makes it harder. I have tried to get a pic of them on my hand, but like many birds they don’t like the camera so close. Perhaps one day.
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perhaps set up a remote camera…
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Yes, that is something to think about.
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A good thing there in Canada that hunting birds is forbidden or at least limited through regulatory laws…
But here , where I live , it is like between 10 C and 18 C in the day or like between 50 F and 60 F …
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Yes, most birds are protected and cannot be hunted. There are some species that can be hunted but with strict regulations.
Sounds like spring weather!
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The winter here ( on the same altitude where you live ) is like the spring there … If it rains and gets cloudy , temperatures drop more …
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Interesting facts on this bird Steve! Well done
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Thanks Dusty! Good morning!
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Good Morning! I hope you slept well.😁😁
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Kind of a rough night.
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Was it still the tooth or your back that kept you awake?
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Mostly my back last night, having a lot of problems with it lately. Not good.
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Rest is best.😉😁
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Well, I certainly have the rust part, with all the screeching and scraping and other terrible sounds.
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Oh…. I thought those were normal body sounds 🙄 maybe try cod liver oil?🤔🤔🤭🤭
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Already using that, doesn’t seem to make a difference.🤔🙄
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Crill oil?
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My drill doesn’t use oil. Oh well. Time to head off and sign off, cause I’m off…my chair. haha, got you there! Good night.😴🌙
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You’re a slippery one!😂😂😂 rest well!😉😊
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Tuning a little late and your posts always appear in my feed the day after. With that said, I always enjoy you sharing your knowledge and photos of birds. Seems you shared some of your cold weather with those that live in my area as we had a few snow flakes last evening. It didn’t last long and soon turned to rain but it was fun while it lasted. Stay warm and give Muffin an extra hug. ☕️☕️❄️❄️🍩 🍪
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I wonder why my posts show up late like that. I have heard others say the same thing lately. Oh well. Always happy to share! Hard to stay warm in this cold! And it’s going to be with us all week too. The joys of winter.😀😺☕☕🌞
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Brrrr! Steve, these wind chills are beyond dangerous. I won’t complain too loudly when our wind chills drop below zero in a few days. Thanks for sharing some fascinating details about the gray jay.
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Yes, it’s not good weather to spend too much time outdoors. Even dressed warmly it’s still not good. Glad you enjoyed reading about the gray jay (now the Canada jay once again, Steve is jumping for joy).😁😸🌞
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