---
title: "What the sources say about the Blue Jay | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "45 claims from the Blue Jay profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/blue-jay-1.webp"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/blue-jay/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Blue Jay (*Cyanocitta cristata*)

> 45 claims from the Blue Jay profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Blue Jay](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/blue-jay/)

## Blue Jay. National Audubon Society, Guide to North American Birds.

https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/blue-jay

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| can imitate the scream of a Red-shouldered Hawk | they can do a remarkable imitation of the scream of a Red-shouldered Hawk (note: tagline; stats.superpower) |
| Oak and pine woods, suburban gardens and towns | Oak and pine woods, suburban gardens, groves, towns. (note: stats.habitat) |
| Mostly plant matter such as acorns, nuts and seeds, plus insects and birds' eggs | Most of diet is vegetable matter (up to 75% of diet for year, higher percentage in winter), including acorns, beechnuts, and other nuts, many kinds of seeds, grain, berries, small fruits, sometimes cultivated fruits. Eats many insects, especially caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, and others; also eats spiders, snails, birds' eggs (note: stats.diet) |
| A blue jay's raucous jay-jay is one of many calls | A raucous jay-jay, harsh cries, and a rich variety of other calls. |
| Audubon lists a rich variety of others, and one is a musical queedle-queedle | a rich variety of other calls. ... Also a musical queedle-queedle. |
| One call is almost identical to the scream of the Red-shouldered Hawk | One is almost identical to the scream of the Red-shouldered Hawk |
| the jay can do a remarkable imitation of it | they can do a remarkable imitation of the scream of a Red-shouldered Hawk |
| It has a crest, a black necklace, bright blue wings and tail, and white wing-bars | dull blue-gray on the back, bright blue on the wings and tail. Note crest, black necklace, white wing-bars, and tail corners. |
| Blue jays harvest acorns and store them in holes in the ground | Will harvest acorns and store them in holes in the ground. |
| A blue jay is 25 to 30 cm long, with a wingspan of 34 to 43 cm, and weighs 70 to 100 g | Length: 9-12 in (25-30 cm); wingspan: 13-17 in (34-43 cm); weight: 2.5-3.5 oz (70-100 g). |
| Males are slightly larger than females | Sexes similar; males slightly larger |
| Blue jays are present all year in most of their range | The Blue Jay is present all year in most of its range |
| Some migrate south in fall, but not south of the United States | variable numbers migrate south in fall; big southward flights in some years, with thousands on the move, although they do not go south of the United States. |
| Blue jays are omnivores that may feed on almost anything | it may feed on almost anything (note: 'omnivores' from Audubon's 'Diet Omnivorous.') |
| Up to 75% of the diet over a year is vegetable matter, and more of it in winter | Most of diet is vegetable matter (up to 75% of diet for year, higher percentage in winter) |
| Jays also eat many insects, especially caterpillars, beetles and grasshoppers | Eats many insects, especially caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, and others |
| Young blue jays leave the nest 17 to 21 days after hatching | Young leave nest 17-21 days after hatching. |
| Both parents bring them food | Both parents bring food for nestlings. |
| the clutch is usually 4 to 5 eggs | 4-5, sometimes 3-7. |
| Audubon lists birds' eggs, and sometimes baby birds, among the foods a blue jay eats | also eats spiders, snails, birds' eggs, sometimes small rodents, frogs, baby birds, carrion |
| jays slip furtively through the trees when going to rob the nest of another bird | they slip furtively through the trees when tending their own nest or going to rob the nest of another bird. |
| it may have declined at first as eastern forests were cleared, before it adapted to nesting in cities | The Blue Jay may have declined initially with the clearing of eastern forests, before it adapted to nesting in cities. |
| Audubon calls the blue jay intelligent and adaptable | Intelligent and adaptable |
| A blue jay can do a remarkable imitation of the scream of a Red-shouldered Hawk | they can do a remarkable imitation of the scream of a Red-shouldered Hawk |

## AnAge entry for Cyanocitta cristata. AnAge: The Animal Ageing and Longevity Database, Build 15, Human Ageing Genomic Resources.

https://genomics.senescence.info/species/entry.php?species=Cyanocitta_cristata

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The record for a wild jay is 18.3 years | Record longevity in the wild is 18.3 years |
| One captive female lived to 26.2 years | One captive female lived 26.2 years |

## Frysinger. Cyanocitta cristata (blue jay). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Cyanocitta_cristata/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| southern Canada and the United States east of the Rocky Mountains | They are common in southern Canada and in the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains. (note: stats.habitat; range) |

## Darley-Hill & Johnson (1981). Acorn dispersal by the blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata). Oecologia.

https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00348043

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| blue jays cached 133,000 acorns from one stand of oaks | Blue jays transported and cached 133,000 acorns from a stand of Quercus palustris trees in Blacksburg, Virginia (note: tagline; Quercus = oak genus) |
| Jays carried one to five nuts per trip, 2.2 on average | The number of nuts transported per caching trip ranged from 1-5 with a mean of 2.2. |
| the caches lay a mean 1.1 km from the seed trees (100 m to 1.9 km) | Mean distance between seed trees and caches was 1.1 km (range: 100 m-1.9 km). |
| Each nut was cached singly and covered with debris | Nuts were cached singly within a few meters of each other and were always covered with debris. |
| jays facilitate colonization by members of the Fagaceae | blue jays facilitate colonization of members of the Fagaceae |
| the plant family that includes oaks and beeches | Quercus palustris, Q. phellos, Q. velutina, Fagus grandifolia (note: definition: the study names Quercus (oak) and Fagus (beech) species among the Fagaceae it treats) |
| blue jays transported and cached 133,000 acorns, which was 54% of the stand's total mast crop | Blue jays transported and cached 133,000 acorns from a stand of Quercus palustris trees in Blacksburg, Virginia, representing 54% of the total mast crop. |
| Stashing 133,000 acorns | Blue jays transported and cached 133,000 acorns (note: heading) |
| A Virginia study looked at one stand of oak trees | from a stand of Quercus palustris trees in Blacksburg, Virginia (note: Quercus = oak genus; acorns named in the same sentence) |
| Jays also ate a further 20% of the stand's acorns where they collected them | A further 20% (49,000) of the mast crop was eaten by jays at the collecting site. |

## Jones & Kamil (1973). Tool-Making and Tool-Using in the Northern Blue Jay. Science.

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.180.4090.1076

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| laboratory-raised jays tore pieces from newspaper pages and used them as tools to rake in food pellets that were otherwise out of reach | Laboratory-raised Northeirn blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) have been observed tearing pieces from pages of newspaper and utilizing them as tools to rake in food pellets which were otherwise out of reach. (note: quote keeps the abstract's typo 'Northeirn') |
| How often they did it depended on the jay's motivational state and on whether pellets were there | The frequency of this behavior was dependenit upon the motivational state of the jay and the presence of food pellets. (note: quote keeps the abstract's typo 'dependenit') |
| tags: tool-user | Laboratory-raised Northeirn blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) have been observed tearing pieces from pages of newspaper and utilizing them as tools to rake in food pellets which were otherwise out of reach. (note: Captive birds; ADW agrees: 'Blue jays in captivity have been known to fashion tools in order to get at foods.') |

## Pietrewicz & Kamil (1979). Search Image Formation in the Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata). Science.

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.204.4399.1332

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| jays trained to spot Catocala moths in slides improved over successive encounters when a series showed one species | Blue jays trained to detect Catocala moths in slides were exposed to two types of slide series containing these moths: series of one species and series of two species intermixed. In one-species series, detection ability increased with successive encounters with one prey type. |
| a direct demonstration of a specific search image | These results are a direct demonstration of a specific search image. |
| No similar effect occurred when two species were mixed | No similar effect occurred in two-species series. |

## Cyanocitta cristata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T22705611A137739324.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2025-2.rlts.t22705611a137739324.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). (note: stats.conservationStatus) |
| The IUCN Red List rates the blue jay Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). |