Raven Volume 59 Number 5

succeeded the AOU in 2016) and, they might be committing Algonquin Provincial Park’s gratifyingly, within a few months some ornithological faux our proposal was overwhelmingly pas if they did. But now the approved (9 votes to 1). formally recognized restoration Now the larger issue of a of the original official name, 8th Annual The national bird for Canada is “Canada Jay” lays to rest both in the hands of the federal these reasons for governmental government. It could well be caution. May we expect some that they hesitated to choose the movement on this file in the “Gray Jay” as our national bird not-too-distant future? Let’s aven A Natural and Cultural History Digest because of its American spelling hope so and, once more, let’s and lack of historical legitimacy. hear it for the Canada Jay!” Vol. 59, No. 5 • December 1, 2018 Or perhaps they hesitated to This bird is OOTLYOSR, named R unilaterally declare “Canada for his coloured bands (Orange Jay” to be the restored name of Over lighT blue Left, Yellow Over Let’s Hear it for the Canada Jay! Silver Right). our bird because they thought PHOTO: GORD BELYEA Algonquin Park staff are proud of the explorers, trappers and campers in our north Park’s long tradition as one of Canada’s most woods. Not only did the study begin way back important areas for biological research—on in 1964, which now makes it one of the 2018 Canada Jay Research Update everything from Wolves to Lake Trout, longest studies of its kind anywhere and from Sugar Maples to blackflies. An in the world, but also, for most of This year marked a year of change for the example, particularly relevant this its 54-year history, the study was Canada Jays of Algonquin Park. Not only February 16th, 2019 year, is our decades-long study conducted exclusively by Park was their common name officially changed, (Family Day Weekend) of the Canada Jay, one of our staff and on their own time. but they also rebounded from the previous country’s truly iconic birds and In 1964 park naturalist, Russ All activities are free with the two record low reproduction years. During known with great affection by Rutter, the original editor (author, the breeding season of 2018, the Canada Jay purchase of a valid Park Permit generations of native peoples, really) of The Raven, was the research team found 18 nests that produced • Snowshoeing first person to put coloured a total of 34 nestlings. Continuing with an Canada Jay • Special Presentations ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE KERRIGAN leg bands on Canada Jays. ongoing project studying juvenile movement DAN STRICKLAND

and survival, we radio tagged many of Canada Jay nestlings - 14 days old (above). • Winter Camping Demos In the 1960s Russ Rutter these nestlings, allowing us to follow young Colour leg bands used to individually identify introduced coloured bands Canada Jays (below). • Winter Birding Canada Jays as they moved throughout the to permit identification of • Ice Skating individual Canada Jays. Park. This information is incredibly valuable Corridor. Consistent with the better breeding PHOTO BY DAN STRICKLAND Wolf Howl because it allows us to see how far they season in the spring, our population size has • move once their leave their natal territory increased, in part due to a higher number of • BBQ at Mew Lake Campground and whether they survive throughout the juveniles staying in the study area than in • Roasting Marshmallows summer and fall. This year our farthest 2017. However, the Canada Jay population and more... mover travelled over 11 km! in the Highway 60 Corridor has declined by Researchers also recently completed about 60% since the early 1970s and climate For more details check their fall round-up, during which they warming is the probable cause. algonquinpark.on.ca counted Canada Jays along the Highway 60 lue reen B blue G K T hite ellow range urple ed ime HOURS OF OPERATION Y O P R pin W dark ligh dark L Open Daily Weekends & Holidays Coloured bands 9 am - 4 pm Museum • Bookstore & Nature Shop • Café 9 am - 5 pm used by Canada (limited services) (full services) Winter Hours — October 30 to April 18, 2019 Jay researchers Standard in Algonquin. Holidays — Christmas (December 27 to January 6, 2019 | Closed December 24-26) • Family Day (February 18) March Break (March 9-17, 2019) • Easter Weekend (April 19 to April 22, 2019)

Algonquin Logging Museum - Reception Centre is closed. The 1.3 km trail with outdoor exhibits is available year-round. If you would like additional information or an updated list of banded Canada Jays in the Park (with a key to the naming system) please stop by the Algonquin Park Visitor Center or contact Dan Strickland 3K P.R. 12 01 18 | ISSN 0701-6972 (print) ISSN 1927-8624 (online) © Queen’s Printer for Ontario, 2018 ([email protected]), Alex Sutton ([email protected]) or Koley Freeman ([email protected]). algonquinpark.on.ca in the first place and why, least in Canada) but most people just assumed with “Canada” in its official name. More to the Canada Jay, or Idaho only now, are we going that the AOU must have had a valid reason to point, people started to ask me why the name Canada Jay”. By instead back to the original name. make the change and that, in the interests of had been changed in the first place and I had to choosing “Gray Jay” as We are pleased, therefore, having commonly accepted names, we had all admit that I really had no idea. the overall species name, to publish the following better just accept the decision and “get on with they sidestepped this account of the Canada life”. That was certainly the way I looked at problem and ended up Jay’s name change history it and throughout my later close involvement with much less awkward by former Algonquin with this bird, I unhesitatingly used the name English names for Chief Park Naturalist, Gray Jay, in talks, in written articles, and even subspecies (Alaska Gray Dan Strickland. Dan was on my licence plates—all without complaint. Jay, Oregon Gray Jay, very much involved in the That would still be the case if it weren’t Idaho Gray Jay etc.). All restoration of “Canada for the well-publicized 2016 campaign by well and good but then, Jay” and we are pleased the Royal Canadian Geographical Society at the last moment, before GORD BELYEA to have him do this guest to choose a national bird for Canada and its DAN STRICKLAND they actually published article and address these eventual decision to recommend the Gray The ultimate Canadian bird? Canada Jays nest in late the new names, the AOU Canadians from coast to coast take great delight in meeting the confiding Canada Jay! commonly asked questions. Jay. I had no objection to the choice of the winter well before snowmelt. got cold feet and decided

KEVIN CLUTE bird itself but I also thought that the official It was a question to which I, as a supposed not to have English names for subspecies appeared in their place. Unfortunately, and Dan Strickland and University of Guelph M.Sc. student, Rachael Derbyshire, name, especially with its American spelling authority on Gray Jays, could reasonably be after all. The whole reason for abandoning for no reason apparent to us, “Canada Jay” banding two nestling Canada Jays, April 17, 2014. of “gray” instead of the Canadian “grey”, expected to know the answer. So I decided to “Canada Jay”, the name that we now know was not among those restored names. actually disqualified the Gray Jay from being make amends for my previous inattention to had been in use since at least 1772, was When all was said and done, therefore, This allowed him to begin observations of How the Name Canada Jay the chosen bird. And what a pity, I thought, the subject and to see if I could find out why to avoid geographic awkwardness in the the original justification for suggesting “Gray individually identifiable birds and to start was Lost and then Recovered that the original name, “Canada Jay”, had the AOU made the decision it did back in 1957. reformed English names of subspecies. But Jay” as a replacement for the 185 year-old unravelling the complexities of their social by Dan Strickland been abandoned. After all, when it comes My enquiries led me to several key references now, since they had decided not to have “Canada Jay” had disappeared several years behaviour. Then, upon Russ’s death in 1976, to having a Canadian national bird, one can and especially to the AOU’s own archives in English subspecies names, the justification for before 1957. By nevertheless persisting with “I was 15 years old in 1957 when the English the study was taken over and greatly expanded hardly have a more suitable choice than a bird the Smithsonian Institution in Washington imposing “Gray Jay” simply evaporated. “Gray Jay”, the AOU ended up by violating its name of Perisoreus canadensis was officially by another Algonquin staff member, Dan which I was able to examine in April 2016. The minutes from an AOU meeting a own stated principle of preserving traditional changed from “Canada Jay” to “Gray Jay” by Strickland, Chief Park Naturalist from 1970 It turned out that the story is rather year later (1955) show that the committee names whenever possible and this became a the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU). to 2000 (successor as The Raven editor). Dan complicated and space does not allow us to do clearly recognized that the decision not major argument for restoring “Canada Jay”. Frankly, I don’t remember thinking very much continues to help lead the study in retirement full justice to it here.* Suffice it to say that the to have English subspecies names meant Indeed, soon after this history was about the change one way or another at the although he has also welcomed collaborators AOU initially had a reasonable justification it would be “possible to retain as specific revealed, a group of us who had published time. The AOU came into being in the 1880s, from the academic community, including Dr. for proposing to replace “Canada Jay” with names a number that have been long in use”. scientific papers on Canada Jays (albeit using partly because professional ornithologists Thomas A. Waite of Ohio State University in “Gray Jay”. In the late 1940s they realized Consistent with this realization, in at least 18 the name Gray Jay!) got together and prepared and amateur naturalists alike all perceived the 1990s and, since 2010, Drs. Ryan Norris that they needed to replace the confusing cases the new species names proposed in the a formal proposal to have “Canada Jay” once the need to have some central authority that and Amy Newman and their growing list of English naming system then in use for late 1940s were not used in the fifth official again become the official name. We submitted could come up with standardized scientific M.Sc. and Ph.D students from the University birds. But they also needed to avoid Checklist when it was eventually published our proposal in late 2017 to the “AOS” (the and English names and impose some order on of Guelph. geographically awkward English in 1957. Instead, the original common names “American Ornithological Society” that the previous “chaos” surrounding the names But there is another major reason to be names for subspecies that would have of North America’s birds. From the outset all proud of Algonquin’s role in Canada Jay resulted from their reforms—names the big names of North American ornithology The Joys of Canada Jay Research in Algonquin research, especially in 2018. Earlier this like “Alaska Canada Jay, Oregon year, in July, the English name of this famous were part of the AOU and any initial The study of Canada Jays has brought many bird was formally changed by the American resistance to its decisions soon melted away. happy moments to researchers in Algonquin but Ornithological Society from “Gray Jay” (in Ever since then, and right up to the present this one may surpass all the rest. Watch as University use since 1957) back to the original official day, the Nomenclature Committee of the of Guelph PhD candidate, Koley Freeman, while name “Canada Jay”. Most of us have grown AOU has enjoyed such an enormous prestige Canada Jay *For more details we are happy to banding a nestling Canada Jay in April 2018, up using “Gray Jay” and it will take a while and respect that no-one seriously challenges PETER FERGUSON refer readers to an article Dan prepared receives an amazing visit from the baby bird’s father. before people once again automatically and its “right” to determine the identity and names for the April 2017 issue of Ontario Birds spontaneously say “Canada Jay”. Even then, of our birds. (How the Canada Jay Lost its Name many Algonquin Park visitors and other In the particular case of the 1957 name —and why it matters) FOAPAlgonquinPark www.ofo.ca/site/download/id/178 Canadians will be left wondering why “Canada change from “Canada Jay” to “Gray Jay” https://youtu.be/4VlDDML1ijM

Jay” was changed to “Gray Jay” back in 1957 there was some unpublished grumbling (at ALEX SUTTON