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Steller's Jay

Cyanocitta stelleriOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Crows and Jays (Corvidae)
Steller's Jay Head Illustration

Head

  • Bill Shape: All-purpose
  • Eye color: Brown iris
  • Head Pattern: Plain, Crested or plumed, Streaked, Eyering (complete or broken)
  • Crown color: Blue, Black
  • Forehead color: Black
  • Nape Color: Gray-black
  • Throat color: Black
  • Cere color:
Splitbar
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Steller's Jay Body Illustration

Body

  • Length Range: 29 cm (11.5 in)
  • Weight: 127 g (4.5 oz)
  • Size: Size 3. Medium (9 - 16 in)
  • Color: Blue, Purple or Violet, White, Black
  • Underparts: Blue-gray
  • Upperparts: Blue
  • Back Pattern: Solid
  • Belly Pattern: Solid
  • Breast Pattern: Solid
Steller's Jay Flight Illustration

Flight

  • Flight Pattern: Direct flight with buoyant steady wing beats.
  • Wingspan Range: 43 cm (17 in)
  • Wing Shape: Broad-Wings, Rounded-Wings
  • Tail Shape: Fan-shaped Tail
  • Tail Pattern: Solid
  • Upper Tail: Blue with fine black bars.
  • Under Tail: Gray
  • Leg color: Black
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Copyright © 2005 WBFI Research Foundation Bird database and its related content and media is Copyright (C) 2002 - 2005 Mitch Waite Group All rights reserved.

Family Jays and Magpies (Corvidae)_blue
Species Cyanocitta stelleri
Length11.5 Inches
Wingspan17 Inches

Steller's Jay

Steller's Jay: Large, crested jay, dark gray upperparts, head and breast, and blue rump and belly. Head has slight white eyebrow, forehead, and chin spots. Wings and tail are blue with black bars. Feeds on pine seeds, acorns, fruit, frogs, snakes, carrion, insects and eggs and young of other birds.

● Song: "shaack, shaack, shaack", "shooka, shooka"

● Foraging & Feeding: Steller's Jay: Diet consists of nuts, pine seeds, acorns, small invertebrates, and bird eggs; also scavenges around human habitations; forages on the ground or in trees and shrubs.

● Breeding & nesting: Steller's Jay: Two to six light blue green or green blue eggs marked with brown are laid in a neat, twiggy nest lined with small roots and fibers, usually well hidden in a shady conifer. Incubation ranges from 16 to 18 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Steller's Jay: Blue Jay has a purple gray crest and back, pale gray underparts, and black collar extends around its body from breast to nape.

Flight Pattern

Direct flight with buoyant steady wing beats.
Steller's Jay Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Steller's Jay: Largely resident from coastal southern Alaska east to the Rocky Mountains and southward into Central America. Preferred habitats include coniferous or deciduous forests.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationCommon in range, Stable
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight4.5 Ounces