Pinyon Jay

Pinyon Jay, adult; Cabin Lake, OR; July

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Pinyon Jay foraging on limber pine, MT, August.

Young Pinyon Jay, near to fledging, about 15-18 days old. N. Arizona, June

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A highly social bird of the lower mountain slopes of the western United States, the Pinyon Jay is specialized for feeding on pine seeds. Each jay stores thousands of seeds each year, and has such a good memory that it can remember where most of them were hidden.

Cool Facts

• The Pinyon Jay's bill is featherless at its base (hence the name Gymnorhinus = bare nostrils). Nearly all other members of the family Corvidae have feathers covering their nostrils. The Pinyon Jay can probe deep into pitch-laden cones without fouling the feathers that would cover the nostrils of other jays.
• Although omnivorous, the Pinyon Jay is committed to the harvest, transport, caching, and later retrieval of pine seeds. It is aided by a relatively long, strong bill; an expandable esophagus; and long, strong wings. Individuals have excellent spatial memories that allow them to find most of their hidden seeds months after caching, even through snow.

• Although the Pinyon Jay is a permanent resident throughout its range, in years when cone crops fail, individuals often disperse far from their normal haunts, making them one of the truly ?irruptive? species of North American birds.

• Pinyon Jay social organization is complex, with permanent flocks that may include more than 500 individuals. Many birds spend their entire lives in their natal flocks. Individuals that do disperse, usually females before they are one year of age, generally travel only short distances.

• Mated pairs of Pinyon Jays appear to coordinate their caching so that their cache locations are known to each other, especially the male. Although this behavior is difficult to observe in the wild, data from aviary observations and experiments confirm this arrangement.

Description

• Size: 26-29 cm (10-11 in)
• Wingspan: 46 cm (18 in)
• Weight: 90-120 g (3.18-4.24 ounces)

• Large songbird.
• Entirely dull blue, except for whitish chin.
• Relatively short tail.
• Large, pointed bill.
• Travels in large flocks.

• Chin, throat, and breast streaked with whitish.
• Bill black.
• Eyes dark brown.
• Legs and feet black.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, but male has darker crown and longer bill.

Immature

Juvenile uniformly dull gray. Immature similar to adult, but duller.

Similar Species

Mexican Jay has longer tail, shorter bill, and less blue on chest.

Sound

Call a high, nasal, upwardly inflected cawing.

Range

Range Map

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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Summer Range

Resident from Oregon to South Dakota, southward to southern California, Baja California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Occasionally occurs far out of normal range when pine crops fail.

Habitat

Found in pinyon-juniper woodland, sagebrush, scrub oak, and chaparral communities, and sometimes in pine forests.

Food

Pine seeds, some acorns, juniper berries, other wild berries, cultivated grains, arthropods, lizards, snakes, nestling birds, and small mammals.

Behavior

Foraging

Opens ripe green pine cones and removes seeds, probes deep into crevices in bark and soil, and kills small vertebrates with swift, well-directed blows of the bill to the head and upper neck.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Large, bulky open cup of sticks, with a midlayer of grasses and an inner cup of fine, powdery materials, such as plant parts, feathers, horsehair, cloth rootlets, or shredded bark. Placed in trees.

Egg Description

Pale blue with dark brown speckles, usually concentrated around large end.

Clutch Size

Condition at Hatching

Naked and helpless.

Conservation Status

Populations declining. Destruction of pinyon-juniper habitat to create grazing land for cattle resulted in loss of many jays. Changes in fire regimes has resulted in loss of many pinyon pines, threatening Pinyon Jay populations.

Other Names

Geai des pinèdes (French)
Chara piñonera (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Balda, R. P. 2002. Pinyon Jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus). In The Birds of North America, No. 605 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.