Also known as the blue jay or Cyanocitta cristata, this beautiful bird is undoubtedly eye-catching, but it has more to offer than just that.Added to their beauty, they are also known for their resourcefulness and intelligence. The blue jay Cyanocitta cristata is a bird species primarily seen in the Northeastern part of America.These birds can be easily spotted in the central and eastern United States and have a migratory population in the east. Blue jays can also be found in Canada, Newfoundland, and across the southern part of Canada. The migratory population migrates south one year. These species stay in the north for the following winter and then return to the south again. The blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata breeds in both coniferous and deciduous forests. The female bird and the male bird are similar or close in plumage and size. The plumage of this bird does not change through the year. There are four recognized subspecies so far for this bird. This article will be reading about different subspecies, food habits, habitations, behavior, measurements, and more, making this the best bird guide. If you found this exciting, you can explore our other articles, such as birds symbolism and cardinal state bird, on our site and expand your knowledge!What does the blue jay wing look like?An old African American folklore tells us that the blue jay Cyanocitta cristata was a significant metaphysical creature in the southern states. In a few tales, blue jays were ascribed with making the earth by bringing the first dirt. The wings on the body of this bird have black bars, and the wingbar is white in color. Blue jay feathers are not actually blue, but the blue color is seen as a result of the reflection of light from the unique inner structure of the feathers.Its body is usually spotted in blue color predominantly with a white color chest and underparts and a blue crest with a black U-shaped collar around the neck, similar to a white necklace. The black plumage on its face, nape, and throat varies between individuals. A fascinating thing about their blue color is that it is not from pigment but the structure of the bird. Its wings are rounded-wings tail shaped. The blue jay also has dark green eyes. Its bill is black with legs of pinkish brown. Blue jays also have a unique pattern on their back.Blue jays produce various sounds, and each bird has its own calling style. Like the other corvids, a cosmopolitan family of oscine birds like ravens, rooks, crows, jays, they may even learn to mimic human speech. Blue jays can also make the calls similar or close to other local hawks so perfectly that sometimes, it may be difficult to tell them apart. Their voice is commonly recognized as the sound of an alarm call as in a loud, scream high pitched tone. The blue jay may be extremely beneficial to other birds species in the surrounding territory as it may chase other predatory birds like hawks and owls and will scream if it sees a predator around. Blue jays are different from most of the other songbirds for using their call as a song.The blue jay also has four more subspecies: northern blue jay, coastal blue jay, interior blue jay, and Florida blue jay.The northern blue jay is the largest of all. It has a fault dull plumage with a pale blue color.The coastal blue jay is medium-sized, primarily found in Coastal USA, and has a vivid blue.The interior blue jay is also mid-sized with a dark blue color contrasting with a whiter underside spotted in the inland USA.The Florida blue jay is the smallest of the subspecies and is fairly distributed in southern Florida.What is the wingspan of blue jay?When these birds get aggressive or excited, their crest gets fully raised, and when scared, the crest moves more outwards. The crest is a crown of feathers on the bird’s head that the birds use to indicate its mood. The blue jay is also said to be a sign of good luck. For this reason, the blue jay was adopted as the team symbol of the Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball team.The blue jay measures around 9.08-11.8 in (23-30 cm) from its bill to its tail and weighs about 0.15-0.22 lb (70-100g) with a 13.3- 16.9 in (34-43 cm) total wingspan. Blue jays have been known to attack and kill other smaller birds and a few bat species as prey due to their smaller size. Jays are very territorial birds and will chase anything from a feeder for an easier meal.The blue jay is an aggressive, noisy, and bold bird. When unprovoked without any danger, it flies at a moderate speed, about 19.8-24.8 mph (32-40km/h). Its slower flying speeds make this species easy prey for other birds like hawks and owls while flying in open areas. Diverse predators such as snakes, cats, crows, squirrels, raccoons, and other jays may prey on jay eggs.How to identify blue jay wings?The blue coloration of blue jays is not obtained from a pigment, the pigment in this bird’s feathers is melanin, which is brown, but it is due to the light interference in the unique internal structure of its feathers. If one of the feathers is crushed or disturbed, this alignment is destroyed because the blue color is gone. This type of pigmentation is known as structural coloration. The feathers on the throat of many hummingbirds undergo similar effects. The Cornell Lab is an ornithology lab performing research on birds and birding. According to the information provided by the Cornell lab, the same protein that makes up our fingernails and hair, keratine, is present in the pocket of blue jays feathers. When light hits these pockets, all the colors of the wavelength are absorbed but blue. However, if you backlight a feather, it will appear brown as there is no prism effect. This enables us to see a blue image of the feathers. Looking at the feathers in the dark or poor-lit areas, they seem to appear much duller in color.When blue jays hatched, its wings weren’t fully pigmented as it hadn’t reached its complete structure. Still, about a year after they hatch, you will not be able to see any brownish coloration on the wings. All the primary coverts are blue, and the more incredible converts are uniformly white and bolder blue. Unlike most birds, a blue jay can be easily distinguished from other birds due to its robin-sized measurements, unique blue and white color, and its rounded wings with black bars.Blue Jay Wings Compared To Other BirdsBlue jays are easily spotted in forest edges along with other birds. The best places to look for blue jays are in forests, near oaks, woodlots, cities, parks, towns, a school, a university, back yards, and many more local places, probably in an open cup nest in the branches of a tree. These self-made nests of natural items also make a great nesting site for breeding. And did you know that blue jays use tools to collect their food? They mainly feed on acorns from an extensive menu varying from food items they browse for such as beech mast, fruits, berries, weed seeds, peanuts, meat, bread, and any scraps in the town park and the locality. Planting oak trees could make across readily available for many jays in the coming years instead of having to travel long distances in search of food. Blue jays are larger than robins but smaller in size compared to crows. While an average crows measurements are about 15.7-19.6 in (40-50 cm), blue jays measure 9.05-11.8 in (23-30 cm). The great albatross tops the chart with the largest wingspan with a whopping 141.7 in (3.6 m), almost 21 times a fully grown blue Jay wingspan. It shows us how small and delicate the blue jay might compare to any other bird, like the Andean condor with a wingspan of 125.9 in (3.2 m) or the bald eagle of about 78.7 in (2 m), among many other birds with large wingspans.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for blue jay wing, then why not take a look at what do baby birds eat or blue jay facts?
Also known as the blue jay or Cyanocitta cristata, this beautiful bird is undoubtedly eye-catching, but it has more to offer than just that.
