Steller's jay

Steller's jay was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the crows in the genus Corvus and coined the binomial name Corvus stelleri.{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1788 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 1 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=370 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2896970 }} Gmelin based his account on "Stellers crow" that had been described in 1781 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham had examined a specimen belonging to the naturalist Joseph Banks that had been collected in Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island off the Pacific coast of Canada.{{ cite book | last=Latham | first=John | author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | year=1781 | title=A General Synopsis of Birds | volume=1, Part 1 | publisher=Printed for Leigh and Sotheby | location=London | pages=387–388 No. 21 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33727919 }} The specimen was one of the birds collected on Captain James Cook's third voyage to the Pacific Ocean. During this voyage Cook visited Nootka Sound from 29 March until 26 Apr 1778.{{ cite journal | last=Stresemann | first=Erwin | author-link=Erwin Stresemann | date=1949 | title=Birds collected in the north Pacific area during Capt. James Cook's last voyage (1778 and 1779) | journal=Ibis | volume=91 | issue=2 | pages=244–255 [248] | doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.1949.tb02264.x }} Steller's jay is now placed with the blue jay in the genus Cyanocitta that was introduced in 1845 by the English ornithologist Hugh Strickland.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=January 2023 | title=Crows, mudnesters, birds-of-paradise | work=IOC World Bird List Version 13.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/crows/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=12 April 2023 }}

The bird is named after the German naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller, the first European to record them, in 1741.{{cite web |title=Steller's Jay |url=http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/343/articles/introduction |work=The Birds of North America Online |year=2013 |department=Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology |publisher=Cornell University |access-date=6 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429060012/http://bna.birds.cornell.edu:80/bna/species/343/articles/introduction|archive-date=29 Apr 2013}}{{cite book |last=Evans |first=Howard Ensign |author-link=Howard Ensign Evans |title=Antæus on Nature |year=1986 |publisher=Collins Harvill |location=London, UK |page=24 |editor=Halpern, Daniel}}

Thirteen subspecies are recognised:

File:Steller's Jay (Coastal).jpg

Steller's jay is about {{convert|30-34|cm|in|abbr=on|lk=on}} long and weighs about {{convert|100-140|g|oz|abbr=on|lk=on}}. Steller's jay shows a great deal of regional variation throughout its range. Blackish-brown-headed birds from the north gradually become bluer-headed farther south. Steller's jay has a more slender bill and longer legs than the blue jay and, in northern populations, has a much more pronounced crest.{{cite book |author1=Madge, S. |author2=Burn, H. |year=1994 |title=Crows and Jays: A Guide to the Crows, Jays and Magpies of the World |location=Boston, MA |publisher=Houghton Mifflin}}{{rp|69}} It is also somewhat larger.

The head is blackish-brown, black, or dark blue, depending on the subspecies of the bird, with lighter streaks on the forehead. This dark coloring gives way from the shoulders and lower breast to silvery blue. The primaries and tail are a rich blue with darker barring. Birds in the eastern part of its range along the Great Divide have white markings on the head, especially over the eyes; birds further west have light blue markers and birds in the far west along the Pacific Coast have small, very faint, or no white or light markings at all.

File:Cyanocitta stelleri coronata, San Cristóbal, Chiapas, Mexico (cropped).jpg to Guatemala]]

Steller's jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) is one of two species in the genus Cyanocitta, the other species being the blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata); because the two species sometimes interbreed naturally where their ranges overlap in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains, their status as distinct species has been contested. There are 18 subspecies of Steller's jays ranging from Alaska to Nicaragua, with nine found north of Mexico, often with areas of low or non-existent presence of the species separating the subspecies. At least some of the variation in the species is due to different degrees of hybridization between Steller's jays (C. stelleri) and blue jays (C. cristata).

The genus Cyanocitta is part of the passerine family Corvidae, which consists of the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers.

Steller's jay occurs in most of the forested areas of western North America as far east as the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains from southern Alaska in the north to northern Nicaragua in the south completely replacing the blue jay prevalent on the rest of the continent in those areas. Its density is lower in the central Rocky Mountain region (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and eastern Utah) plus the desert or scrubland areas of the Great Basin (e.g. Nevada, western Utah, southern Arizona and parts of California). Some hybridization with the blue jay in eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains, especially Colorado, has been reported. It is also found in Mexico occurring through the interior highlands in northwestern Mexico as well as patchy populations in the rest of Mexico. In the northern end of its range it appears to be spreading from coastal Southeast Alaska across the Coast Mountains into southern Yukon Territory.{{cite web|title=Steller's jay invasion: Coastal species making a rare appearance in southern Yukon |url=https://www.yukon-news.com/news/stellers-jay-invasion-coastal-species-making-a-rare-appearance-in-southern-yukon/ |last=Ritchie |first=Haley |publisher=Yukon News |date=2020-10-27 |access-date=2020-10-27}}

Steller's jay is also found in Mexico's interior highlands from Chihuahua and Sonora in the northwest southward to Jalisco, as well as other patchy populations found throughout Mexico. It is also found in south-central Guatemala, northern El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Although Steller's jay primarily lives in coniferous forests, it can be found in other types of forests as well. They can be found from low to moderate elevations, and on rare occasions to as high as the tree line. Steller's jays are common in residential and agricultural areas with nearby forests.

File:Steller’s Jay by Dillon Hanson USFWS.jpg|Western-variety Steller's jay, with all-dark head, in Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.

File:Steller's jay on Pebble Beach, California, USA.jpg|Steller's jay on Pebble Beach, California, USA.

File:Steller's Jay with a peanut.jpg

Steller's jays are omnivores; their diet is about two-thirds plant matter and one-third animal matter. They gather food both from the ground and from trees. Steller's jay's diet includes a wide range of seeds, nuts, berries and other fruit. They also eat many types of invertebrates, small rodents, eggs, and nestlings such as those of the marbled murrelet. There are some accounts of them eating small reptiles, both snakes and lizards.

Acorns and conifer seeds are staples during the non-breeding season; these are often cached in the ground or in trees for later consumption. They exploit human-provided food sources, frequently scavenging picnics and campsites, where it competes with the Canada jay.

Steller's jays will visit feeders and prefer black-oil sunflower seeds, white striped sunflower seeds, cracked corn, shelled raw peanuts, and are especially attracted to whole raw peanuts. Suet is also consumed but mostly in the winter season.

File:Steller's Jay, Kenai NWR, Alaska.png, Alaska]]

Steller's jays breed in monogamous pairs.{{Cite journal |last1=Gabriel |first1=P. O. |last2=Black |first2=J. M. |date=July 2012 |title=Reproduction in Steller's Jays (Cyanocitta stelleri): individual characteristics and behavioral strategies |journal=The Auk |volume=129 |issue=3 |pages=377–386 |doi=10.1525/auk.2012.11234 |jstor=10.1525/auk.2012.11234 |doi-access=free}} The clutch is usually incubated entirely by the female for about 16 days.{{Cite web |url=http://txtbba.tamu.edu/species-accounts/stellers-jay/ |title=Steller's Jay |last=Tweit |first=R. C. |date=2005 |website=Texas Breeding Bird Atlas |publisher=Texas A&M |access-date=6 June 2013}} The male feeds the female during this time. Though they are known to be loud both day and night, during nesting they are quiet in order to not attract attention.{{Cite web |url=https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/stellers-jay |title=Steller's Jay |last=Kaufman |first=K. |website=Audubon Society |date=13 November 2014 |access-date=2019-08-13}}

The nest is usually in a conifer, but is sometimes built in a hollow in a tree or beneath the awning of a house or other structure. Similar in construction to the blue jay's nest, it tends to be a bit larger ({{convert|25|to|43|cm|abbr=on}}), using a number of natural materials or scavenged trash, often mixed with mud. Between two and six eggs are laid during breeding season. The eggs are oval in shape with a somewhat glossy surface. The background colour of the egg shell tends to be pale variations of greenish-blue with brown- or olive-coloured speckles.

Like other jays, Steller's jay has numerous and variable vocalizations. One common call is a harsh "SHACK-Sheck-sheck-sheck-sheck-sheck" series; another "skreeka! skreeka!" call sounds almost exactly like an old-fashioned pump handle; yet another is a soft, breathy "hoodle hoodle" whistle. Its alarm call is a harsh, nasal "wah". Some calls are sex-specific: females produce a rattling sound, while males make a high-pitched "gleep gleep".

Steller's jay is also a noted mimic: it can imitate the vocalizations of many species of birds, other animals, and sounds of non-animal origin. It often will imitate the calls from birds of prey such as the red-tailed hawk, red-shouldered hawk, and osprey as a warning of danger to others or territorial behavior, causing other birds to seek cover and flee feeding areas.

Steller's jays have the ability to assess risk using different predator detection cues. They have many alarm calls that are dependent on their interaction between predator identity and cue type. When Steller's jays see a sharp-shinned hawk, they stop foraging for the same length of time as if the hawk had been heard instead. In contrast, Steller's jays exhibit a longer latency to return to feeding when northern goshawks are seen rather than heard. The difference in reactions suggests that a distinct risk assessment is conducted by Steller's jays. Steller's jays will then vary the production of their "wah", "wek", and mimic red-tailed hawk calls in response to different detection cues.{{Cite journal|last=Billings|first=Alexis|date=May–June 2017|title=Steller's jays assess and communicate about predator risk using detection cues and identity|url=https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/28/3/776/3069041|journal=Behavioral Ecology|volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=776–783 |doi=10.1093/beheco/arx035 |url-access=subscription}}

Steller's jay is the provincial bird of the Canadian province of British Columbia.{{Cite web |url=https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/celebrating-british-columbia/symbols-of-bc |title=B.C. Symbols - Province of British Columbia |website=gov.bc.ca |publisher=Government of British Columbia |access-date=2019-08-13}}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{Cite journal |url=https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/stejay/introduction |title=Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) |last1=Walker |first1=L. E. |last2=Pyle |first2=P. |date=2016 |editor-last=Rodewald |editor-first=P. G. |journal=The Birds of North America Online |publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology |location=Ithaca, New York |language=en |doi=10.2173/bna.343 |access-date=2019-08-13 |last3=Patten |first3=M. A. |last4=Green |first4=E. |last5=Davison |first5=W. |last6=Muehter |first6=V. R.|url-access=subscription }}

{{cite web |title=Steller's Jay Cyanocitta stelleri |date=4 May 2010 |url=http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/stellers-jay/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100413084812/http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/stellers-jay/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 13, 2010 |publisher=National Geographic |access-date=6 June 2013}}

{{cite web |title=Steller's Jay |url=http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird/stellers_jay |publisher=Seattle Audubon Society |access-date=6 June 2013}}

{{cite journal |last1=Walker |first1=L. E. |last2=Pyle |first2=P. |last3=Patten |first3=M. A. |last4=Greene |first4=E. |last5=Davison |first5=W. |last6=Muehter |first6=V. R. |title=Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri), version 1.0 |journal=Birds of the World |date=2020 |doi=10.2173/bow.stejay.01 |s2cid=216421604 }}

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• {{cite book |author=Goodwin, D. |year=1976 |title=Crows of the World |location=Seattle, WA |publisher=University of Washington Press}}
• {{cite book |author1=Greene, E. |author2=Davison, W. |author3=Davison, W. |author4=Muehter, V.R. |year=1998 |article=Steller's jay—Cyanocitta stelleri |title=The Birds of North America |at=No. 343}}

{{Wikispecies|Cyanocitta stelleri}}

{{Commons category|Cyanocitta stelleri|Steller's jay}}

• {{cite web |url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Stellers_Jay/ |title=Steller's jay |series=Species Account |department=Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology |publisher=Cornell University}}
• {{InternetBirdCollection|stellers-jay-cyanocitta-stelleri|Steller's jay}}
• {{VIREO|steller%27s+jay|Steller's jay}}

{{Corvidae}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q838749}}

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Steller's jay

Category:Birds of the Rio Grande valleys

Category:Meso-American montane bird species

Category:Cyanocitta

Category:Fauna of the California chaparral and woodlands

Category:Fauna of the San Francisco Bay Area

Category:Native birds of Alaska

Category:Native birds of the Western United States

Category:Native birds of Western Canada

Category:Provincial symbols of British Columbia

Category:Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin