WesCom file photo

For the last in the series of articles on jays, I will finish off with the Steller’s Jay.

The scientific name is Cyanocitta stelleri. Cyanocitta is of Greek origin from the words kuanos, meaning dark-blue, and kitta, meaning jay. Steller is taken from the European discoverer of the bird, Georg Steller. Steller’s jays were discovered on an Alaskan island in 1741 by Steller, a naturalist on a Russian explorer’s ship. When a scientist officially described the species in 1788, it was named after him. Steller’s jay belongs to the corvid family consisting of crows, magpies and jays.

The Steller’s jay is one of the most recognizable jays. In Central Oregon it has a black head and neck with a prominent black crest. A small amount of blue streaking shows on the forehead. It is one of the two North American jays with crests (the other being the blue jay). The upper back and breast are black, and the rest of the bird is a varying degree of blue. It weighs about 4½ ounces and is about 11½ inches long with a 17-inch wingspan. Its preferred habitat is coniferous and mixed coniferous-deciduous forests. It’s mainly found west of the Rockies, but it does winter casually east of the Rockies. There are 17 subspecies from Alaska to Nicaragua, eight found north of Mexico. It’s found in the U.S. from southern Alaska to the Southwest border.

The Steller’s jay shows a great deal of variation in appearance throughout its range, with some populations featuring black crests and backs, and others blue.

Its diet consists of seeds, berries, insects, eggs and also young of other birds.

It will readily come to feeders for seed and suet. Its call is a raspy grating repeating raah or wek.

An excellent mimic with a large repertoire, it can imitate birds, squirrels, cats, dogs, chickens and some mechanical objects. I often hear this bird imitating a red-tailed hawk.

The Steller’s jay and the blue jay are the only New World jays that use mud to build their nests.

An interesting fact about blue birds is that the blue is not a pigment in the feathers; the blue color is the result of the structure of the feathers which causes red and yellow wavelengths to be absorbed while the blue wavelength is amplified and reflected back.

This is a common neighborhood bird throughout Central Oregon.

— Tom Lawler is an avid bird watcher and photographer. He serves on the East Cascades Audubon Society board and leads bird walks at the Sunriver Nature Center.

Steller’s jay

Scientific name: Cyanocitta stelleri

Height: 11½ inches

Weight: 4½ ounces

Wingspan: 17 inches