Bird Profile
Steller's Jay
The charcoal-headed, deep blue jay of western conifer forest. It screams like a Red-tailed Hawk, empties a peanut tray in two minutes, and follows you around a campground.
The short answer
- The only crested jay in the West: sooty black head and crest shading into deep blue on the body, wings and tail.
- It is the western counterpart of the Blue Jay. The two overlap along the eastern Rockies and foothills, where hybrids showing a half-black, half-blue head turn up.
- Steller's Jays are excellent mimics and copy Red-tailed Hawk screams closely enough to clear a feeder for a few seconds.
- Feed them whole peanuts on a separate open tray. They cache rather than eat on site, so they leave quickly once loaded.
- In fall and winter many move downslope, which is why lowland yards suddenly get them in October and lose them in April.
At a glance
- Scientific name
- Cyanocitta stelleri
- Length
- 11.8 to 13.4 in (30 to 34 cm)
- Wingspan
- About 17 in (44 cm)
- Weight
- 3.5 to 4.9 oz (100 to 140 g)
- Range
- Alaska panhandle south through the West to Mexico, in conifer country.
- Favorite foods
- Peanuts in the shell, sunflower, suet, pine seeds, acorns
- Best feeder
- Large platform or tray, peanut feeder, sturdy suet cage
- At feeders
- Year-round, more birds at low elevation in winter
The Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) is a large, crested, dark blue jay of western conifer forest, about 12 to 13 inches (30 to 34 cm) long. The head, tall crest and upper breast are sooty black to charcoal, and the rest of the bird is a deep saturated blue with fine black barring in the wings and tail. There is no white on it anywhere.
It is the West's version of the Blue Jay, and the two are close relatives in the same genus. Anyone who has moved from Ohio to Oregon recognizes the personality immediately: loud, curious, dominant at a tray, and gone as fast as it arrived.
This profile covers how to identify it and its regional forms, the narrow zone in the Rockies where it meets and hybridizes with the Blue Jay, the seasonal downslope movement that puts it in lowland yards each fall, what it eats, and the mimicry it is famous for.
How to identify a Steller's Jay#
Size and shape first: a heavy, long-tailed bird the size of a small crow, with a prominent pointed crest that it raises when alert and lays flat when relaxed.
Color is a two-part story. Head, crest, throat and upper breast are blackish or dark sooty brown. The change to blue happens abruptly on the back and breast, and the blue deepens toward the wings and tail, which are barred with fine black lines. Most birds show small pale streaks or spots on the forehead and above the eye, and the pattern of those marks varies regionally.
Males and females look the same. Juveniles are sootier and duller with a shorter crest.
Confusion species#
| Bird | Quick tell | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Blue Jay | White face, black necklace, white wing patches | Eastern foothills of the Rockies |
| California Scrub-Jay | No crest, gray-brown back, white throat | Pacific slope yards |
| Clark's Nutcracker | Gray body, black and white wings, long bill | High mountains, timberline |
| Pinyon Jay | Uniform dull blue, no crest, short tail | Great Basin pinyon and juniper |
| Black-billed Magpie | Black and white, very long tail | Interior West, open country |
Regional forms: black foreheads and white eyebrows#
Steller's Jays vary noticeably across the West, and the head markings are the giveaway. Coastal birds from Alaska down through the Pacific Northwest and California have blackish heads with short blue streaks on the forehead and little else.
Birds of the interior ranges, through the Mountain West and the Southwest, have a paler, browner head and, most obviously, distinct white eyebrow marks above the eye and white streaking on the forehead. Some Rocky Mountain birds look as if they have been dabbed with white paint above the eye.
Neither form is a separate species. They intergrade where the ranges meet, and both behave identically at a feeder.
Where the Blue Jay overlap happens#
Steller's Jay and Blue Jay were separated for most of their history: conifer forest in the West, deciduous woods in the East. Blue Jays have spread west along river corridors and planted shelterbelts across the Great Plains, and they now reach the eastern foothills of the Rockies in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Alberta.
In that contact zone the two species hybridize. Hybrids are uncommon but well documented, and they look like what they are: a jay with a partly black, partly white face, or a bird with a Steller's crest and Blue Jay wing patches. Anyone feeding birds along the Colorado Front Range should look twice at a jay that seems wrong.
Front Range birders, check the face
If you feed birds in Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins or the foothills west of them, you can get both species in one winter, sometimes at the same tray. Steller's tends to come down from the pines with the first hard cold; Blue Jays sit in the cottonwoods along the creeks. A face that is neither one thing nor the other is worth photographing.
Where and when you will see them#
Steller's Jays live in coniferous and mixed forest from the Alaska panhandle south through British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California, east through the Rockies to New Mexico, and on into Mexico and Central America. They are residents rather than migrants.
What they do instead is move up and down. Breeding birds occupy montane forest, often between about 3,000 and 10,000 feet (900 to 3,000 m) depending on latitude, then drop into valleys, foothills and lowland suburbs for the winter. A yard at 5,000 feet (1,500 m) in Colorado, or at sea level in western Oregon, often gains jays in October and loses them in April.
They also concentrate anywhere people leave food: campgrounds, trailheads, ski areas and picnic grounds. This is a bird that has fully worked out what a parked car with the windows down means.
What Steller's Jays eat, and the feeder that suits them#
The wild diet is roughly two thirds plant material. Pine seeds are a staple in conifer country, along with acorns where oaks grow, plus berries, other nuts and seeds. The remaining third is animal food: insects, spiders, occasional eggs and nestlings, small reptiles, and carrion or scraps.
Like all jays they cache heavily in fall, hiding conifer seeds and nuts in bark crevices, under litter and in the ground for winter use.
| Food | Steller's Jay response | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts in the shell | Top choice | Carried off one to three at a time and cached |
| Black oil sunflower | Excellent | Cracked underfoot on a solid surface |
| Striped sunflower | Very good | Big seed suits a big bill |
| Suet | Heavy use in cold weather | Needs a cage that will hold a 4 oz (115 g) bird |
| Cracked corn | Taken | Useful ground filler |
| Safflower | Taken less readily | Helps if you want fewer jays on the main feeder |
| Nyjer | Ignored | Finch food |
Feed them on an open surface. A large platform feeder or a wide rail is what they want; a peanut feeder made of heavy wire mesh slows the raid down and keeps them visible longer.
Two minutes of jay, then quiet
A Steller's Jay does not settle in and graze. It arrives, loads its throat and bill with as much as it can carry, and leaves to cache. If your peanut tray holds only a handful at a time, the jays cycle through in short bursts and the chickadees and Mountain Chickadees get their turn between visits.
Voice and mimicry#
The everyday call is a harsh, grating shaack shaack shaack, repeated in series and audible across a canyon. They also give a soft rattling and a range of gurgling, clicking conversational notes at close range.
The mimicry is the memorable part. Steller's Jays imitate Red-tailed Hawks and Northern Goshawks well enough to fool people regularly, and they also copy squirrels, dogs, cats and mechanical noises. The interpretation is genuinely open: the same call may serve as a warning to other jays, a probe to see whether a hawk responds, and occasionally a way to scatter competitors. If you hear a hawk scream and nothing overhead, check the top of the nearest fir. Real hawk activity is a separate problem, covered in hawks hunting at your feeder.
Nesting#
Pairs build a bulky cup of twigs, moss and dry leaves cemented with mud and lined with fine rootlets or pine needles, usually 10 to 30 feet (3 to 9 m) up against the trunk of a conifer. Both birds build, and they are quiet and secretive around the nest, which surprises people who know them only as loud.
Clutches are typically 2 to 6 pale blue-green eggs with fine dark speckling. Incubation is around 16 days by the female, and young leave the nest roughly 16 days after hatching. One brood a year is usual. Pairs are long-term and hold territory together.
Population and conservation#
Steller's Jays are common and widespread, with populations considered broadly stable. They are not a species of conservation concern.
Two local pressures are worth knowing. Where people concentrate food, jay numbers rise, and locally abundant jays can increase nest predation on smaller forest birds. And in bear country a peanut tray is bear bait as much as jay bait.
In bear country, bring feeders in
Steller's Jay range overlaps black bear range almost completely. Take feeders in at night from spring through fall, or skip them entirely in those months, and read bird feeders and bears before you hang anything at a mountain cabin. A fed bear is usually a dead bear.
A Steller's Jay setup that works#
- A heavy open tray with whole peanuts, sited 30 feet (9 m) from your small-bird feeders.
- Black oil or striped sunflower on the same tray or a second one.
- A metal suet cage rated for large birds, in place from October through March.
- Small refills, more often, so the jays cycle through rather than camping.
- Feeders down at night anywhere bears are active, and a yard planted with local conifers, which is where the jays actually live. See native plants for birds.
Frequently asked questions#
What is the difference between a Steller's Jay and a Blue Jay?
A Steller's Jay has a sooty black to charcoal head, crest and upper breast with a deep blue body, and no white anywhere. A Blue Jay is pale blue and white below, with a black necklace, a white face and bold white patches in the wings and tail. Range separates them nearly everywhere: Steller's is a western conifer bird, Blue Jay is a bird of the East and the Great Plains. They meet along the eastern slope of the Rockies, where hybrids occur.
What do Steller's Jays eat?
Roughly two thirds plant material: pine and other conifer seeds, acorns, other nuts, berries and seeds. The rest is insects, spiders, eggs, nestlings, small vertebrates and scavenged scraps. At feeders they take peanuts, sunflower, suet and cracked corn, and they will raid an unattended picnic table without hesitation.
Why do Steller's Jays scream like a hawk?
They are accomplished mimics and copy Red-tailed Hawk and Northern Goshawk calls, along with squirrels, dogs, cats and some mechanical sounds. The likely uses overlap: warning other jays about a real hawk, testing whether a predator is present, and occasionally clearing competitors off a food source. All three are plausible and they are not mutually exclusive.
How do I keep Steller's Jays from taking all the bird food?
Give them their own station. Whole peanuts in the shell on an open tray, 30 feet (9 m) from the small-bird feeders, will occupy the jays and keep them off the tube feeders. For the seed you want to protect, use a caged feeder or a tube with short perches and no bottom tray, and switch the mix toward safflower, which jays take less eagerly.
Do Steller's Jays migrate?
Not in the usual sense. They are resident year-round but many make altitudinal movements, dropping from mountain forest to valleys and foothills for the winter and returning upslope to breed. Some years bring bigger downslope movements than others, tied to how the conifer seed crop turned out.
Why did Steller's Jays suddenly appear at my feeder in fall?
Two reasons stack up in October. Birds move downslope from high elevation forest as cold weather arrives, and the caching season is in full swing, so jays range more widely looking for storable food. If your yard has peanuts or sunflower, they will find it and keep coming back until spring.