It's hard to believe this audacious bird"s future may very well rest with climate change. Social, and a member of the Corvidae family the Gray Jay, now renamed the Canadian Jay, has also been called the "camp robber" for its penchant for stealing food. They do not migrate like other birds. Instead, they spend their lives in boreal forests close to where they are born and where conifers like the black spruce are found. They have their young in the dead of winter relying heavily on cached foods that they attach to boreal and subalpine tree species using their sticky saliva. Even though it is thought that these trees have antibacterial and anti fungal properties that help preserve their cached food, warming temperatures are thought to be linked to diminishing food quality. They demonstrate a lot of interesting behavior and I hope I will continue to hear their cheerful song when I am in their habitat. When you encounter them, please don't feed them bread even if ”they like it". It has no nutritional value and may spoil quicker than their natural food.
