The Canada jay or gray jay is a member of the corvid family and is ubiquitous throughout this country. In fact, except for Alaska and a small portion of the American Rockies, the gray jay is found nowhere else in the world.
Intelligent and cute-looking, the gray jay has also been immortalized in Indigenous lore as a trickster. Given how smart they are about getting food, that’s probably true! I have frequently seen them while out hiking and they always try to charm me into giving them something to eat. Shy they are not!
Happy Monday.
In the Net! - Pictures and Stories of Life 
I guess they somehow aren’t afraid of humans. Like pigeons.
Yes, even the jays away out in the back country see humans as a potential food source. Rather amazing.
We watched the antics of some of these scamps near Emerald Lake. They are very smart birds. Happy Monday Lynette. Allan
Thanks, Allan. Scamp is the right word for them. They’re sort of a bigger version of the chickadees, but perhaps a little less charming. Emerald Lake is a favourite spot of ours; we have also watched them there. It’s such a beautiful lake.
What a pretty bird. I’m surprised they aren’t shy. Usually birds only approach humans for food when they’ve been conditioned to do so. Like tourists in Florida who feed seagulls. I notice ducks will come up at the creek looking for me to throw them bread, but when they see my dog, they quickly paddle away. Thanks for sharing the Gray Jay, because I would’ve likely never heard or seen one if not for this post. 😊
You’re welcome, Lori. 🙂 The interesting thing about gray jays is that they will try for food from humans even if you’re way out in the back country where they don’t see humans very often. They somehow seem to recognize us as food sources. They live in mountainous and country areas but they’re never seen in populated places. I’m not sure how they know to look for food from us!
We have them here in the Olympics too. We call them camp robbers for their habit of stealing food from right off your tables. They are one of my favorites. A nice photo of one of the little beggars.
Thank you very much. They have approached me for food even when I’ve been back country hiking. I don’t know how they know to do that! I didn’t realise that they can be found in the Olympics.
I’ve never seen a gray jay before. They look really cute.
They are very cute and smart, too. Allan commented above that they are scamps, and I think that word describes them well. I’ve been surprised when hiking in the Banff back country that they interact so easily with humans and see us as a source of food, even when their exposure to us has been limited.
yes me too from Indonesia. never seen a gray jay before. Nice to know, Lynette. Thanks for sharing
You’re very welcome. The gray jays are adorable rascals. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.