Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) Scott Hickman
Chippewa Co., MI (Click to view a comparison of Atlas I to II) February, 2008 © Willie McHale
No welcome to the north woods surpasses the but McPeek (1994) described their range as having contracted north. By the early 1980s eloquence of a Gray Jay softly gliding into view they were determined to be uncommon residents as it emerges to inspect a visiting birder. These of the UP (Payne 1983), with “few even winter inquisitive birds are residents of the great records” in the LP since the 1960s (Brewer et al. coniferous forests that stretch from Alaska 1991). through Canada, the Pacific Northwest, sections of the mountainous west and southwest, MBBA I and II both confirmed that the breeding northern portions of the states bordering Lake range of Gray Jays in Michigan is now restricted Superior, and northernmost New England to the UP. The reason for this restriction is (Strickland and Ouellet 1993). Gray Jays are unclear because the coniferous forests able to survive the brutal winters of these containing spruce they prefer for nesting regions partly due to their distinctive adaptation (Strickland and Ouellet 1993) exist nearby of caching food by attaching it to trees with within the northern LP (McCann 1991). It has sticky saliva (Dow 1965). Their breeding been hypothesized that warmer weather season range in Michigan is confined to the UP resulting from climate change may be increasing where they are uncommon to common residents the spoilage of cached food (Strickland and of conifer dominated habitats, particularly those Ouellet 1993). This hypothesis has not been containing spruce (Payne 1983, McPeek 1994). tested, but would promote a northward shift in
range for this species. Distribution
Gray Jays were first listed as Michigan Breeding Biology inhabitants by Fox (1853), who described them Use of cached food allows Gray Jays to nest as within the Lake Superior region. Twenty-six early, with a typical clutch of three to four eggs years later, they were recognized as “found” laid from 6 March – 22 April (McPeek 1994). within both peninsulas and occasionally Females tenaciously incubate eggs, briefly wandering to the southern border of the state leaving to feed only once every three or four (Gibbs 1879). Cook (1893) considered them hours even though fed as seldom as once per common from the middle of the LP northward, day by their mates (Strickland and Ouellet
© 2010 Kalamazoo Nature Center Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) Scott Hickman
1993). This incubation/feeding strategy is western UP. In the eastern UP, townships believed to minimize detection by red squirrels reporting Gray Jays dropped from 30 to 23, a (Strickland 2007) which are such voracious nest loss of 23%. Not counting Isle Royale, predators that some species may not nest in sites townships containing Gray Jays in the western where red squirrel density is high (Siepielski UP increased from 67 to 77, a gain of 15%. 2006). Gray Jays are also unusual in being This eastern UP loss vs. western UP gain may regarded as both socially and genetically be the result of disparity in habitat loss. It is monogamous, with DNA fingerprinting generally perceived that increased sale of forest indicating an absence of extra-pair paternity in land in the eastern UP has resulted in increased at least one population (Strickland and Ouellet logging of boreal forests immediately prior to 1993). change in ownership (D. Kuhn pers. comm.) whereas this change has not been noted in the Abundance and Population Trends western UP (J. Ferris pers. comm.). This Gray Jays have an estimated total population of possible difference in habitat loss may have 16 million (Rich et al. 2004) and are restricted contributed to the reported changes in eastern to North America (Strickland and Ouellet 1993). versus western UP populations. North American Breeding Bird Survey data do not indicate a significant change for the Gray It should be noted that it is not possible to be Jay population of North America as a whole, certain of the reason for this eastern vs. western regionally, or within Michigan (Sauer et al. UP population shift, or even to be confident that 2008). Wisconsin’s atlas indicated a possible there has been an actual change in these retraction northward in the range of Gray Jays, populations. Disproportionate observer effort but this was suspected to be the result of can bias atlas results. Hours of observer effort inadequate sampling (Gregg 2006). Ontario’s were recorded for MBBA II and extrapolated second atlas showed Gray Jays to have for MBBA I by KNC. Their estimates indicate increased by 16% within the province, but this that effort during MBBA II compared to MBBA was similarly conjectured to be due to I increased by 34% in the western UP while differences in observer effort (Strickland 2007). decreasing in the eastern UP by 8%. This difference in observer effort could create the The number of Gray Jays in Michigan cannot be reported population changes, particularly if estimated by MBBA I or MBBA II. However, a preferred nesting habitat was surveyed more difference in the number of townships inhabited intensely in the western than eastern UP. A during MBBA I vs. MBBA II could signify a relative increase in effort within a species’ change in population. Since the number of preferred habitat will overestimate population townships in which Gray Jays were found in the increases while decreased effort within UP was almost unchanged between atlases, and preferred habitat underestimates populations differences in the number of townships (Lawler and O’Connor 2004). reporting nesting status as confirmed vs. probable vs. possible were similarly minor, no Conservation Needs overall change in Michigan’s population is Although Gray Jays are susceptible to being indicated. unintentionally caught in traps for furbearing mammals (Strickland and Ouellet 1993), habitat Even though the state’s number of Gray Jays loss and global warming likely constitute the may have changed little, there was a shift greatest potential threats to this species in between atlases in the number of townships Michigan. An increase in loss of conifer reporting Gray Jays within the eastern vs. dominated habitats containing spruce would
© 2010 Kalamazoo Nature Center Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) Scott Hickman certainly decrease Michigan’s Gray Jay Bird Survey routes represent the population, and climate change has already been environments of the conterminous United shown to be moving ranges of many organisms, States? Condor 106:801-814. including forest dwelling birds, northward McCann, M.T. 1991. Land, climate, and (Parmesan and Yohe 2003, Niven et al. 2009). vegetation of Michigan. Pages 15-31 in R. Even a minor shift north in the range of Gray Brewer, G. A. McPeek, and R. J. Adams, Jays would exclude them from our state. eds. 1991. The Atlas of Breeding Birds of U.S.G.S. Breeding Bird Surveys do not Michigan. Michigan State University Press, currently indicate Gray Jay population decreases East Lansing, MI. for Michigan or North America (Sauer et al. McPeek, G.A. 1994. Gray Jay. In G.A. 2008). However, the Gray Jay is an “under- McPeek, G.A., and R.J. Adams, eds. 1994. monitored” species (Rich et al. 2004). The Birds of Michigan. Indiana University Continuing to survey Gray Jays in Michigan Press, Indianapolis, IN. will be essential if we are to perceive population Niven, D.K., G.S. Butcher, G.T. Bancroft, W.B. declines before they are too late to counter. Monahan, and G. Langham. 2009. Birds and Climate Change, ecological disruption Literature Cited in motion. National Audubon Society, New York, NY.
© 2010 Kalamazoo Nature Center Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) Scott Hickman
Siepielski, A.M. 2006. A possible role for red squirrels in structuring breeding bird communities in lodgepole pine forests. Condor 108:232-238. Strickland, D. 2007. Gray Jay. In Cadman, M.D., D.A. Sutherland, G.G. Beck, D. Lepage, and A.R. Couturier, eds. 2007. Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario, 2001-2005. Bird Studies Canada, Environment Canada, Ontario Field Ornithologists, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and Ontario Nature, Toronto. Strickland, D., and H. Ouellet. 1993. Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis). In The Birds of North America, No. 40 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.
Suggested Citation
Hickman, S. 2010. Gray Jay (Perisoreus Canadensis). In Chartier, A.T., J.J. Baldy, and J.M. Brenneman (eds.). 2010. The Second Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas. Kalamazoo Nature Center. Kalamazoo, MI. Accessed online at:
© 2010 Kalamazoo Nature Center