12/13/2023 0 Comments Geoff gillum texas whiskey jacks![]() ![]() When young Gray Jays leave the nest at 23 days of age they are well feathered (though short-tailed) and they can fly quite well. No-one knows if a jay mimicking a predator is communicating the predator’s identity to its mate or merely that some general danger is present. ![]() Gray Jays can give excellent, though usually very quiet, imitations of predators (especially hawks and crows). It is given by birds of either sex and may help members of a mated pair to synchronize their sexual cycles. Among several vocalizations reserved for social interactions, there is a beautiful ‘whisper song’, a long jumble of soft melodious notes interspersed with quiet clicks. A harsh chatter is associated with the mobbing of terrestrial predators and soft repeated whistles, hoo, hoo, hoo are given when aerial predators are spotted. These are probably ‘contact notes’ by which each bird in the group keeps track of the others’ whereabouts. Members of a pair or family group moving through the forest frequently give single, quiet twirks or whuits. The Gray Jay is notably quieter than many members of the crow and jay family but it still has a rich vocal repertoire. Juveniles begin their first moult in July, however, and by the end of August they essentially look just like the adults. Young and old are so distinct, in fact, that they were at first thought to be different species. Juvenile Gray Jays just out of the nest are very different from the adults, being a uniform, sooty gray colour all over their bodies. For the Gray Jay, of course, the thick plumage is what keeps it warm on long winter nights or in cold snaps when the temperature may be 40 below zero for days at a time. The short, black bill, the large dark eyes, and the thick, fluffy plumage, help give the Gray Jay a soft, rounded appearance that most people find highly appealing. Its back and tail are a medium gray and the underparts a slightly lighter shade, but the head has a quite striking and unique pattern of black and white. Close up, the Gray Jay can hardly be confused with any other bird. The Gray Jay Perisoreus canadensis is only slightly smaller than a Blue Jay and, silhouetted against the sky, the two birds are surprisingly similar, although the Gray Jay is a somewhat slower and weaker flier than its southern relative. Perhaps sadly, whiskeyjack and the former English name of Canada Jay are both passing into disuse as more and more Canadians grow up with the present official English name of Gray Jay.The Gray Jay is thus the only Canadian bird for which a name of aboriginal derivation has been commonly used in English.Another familiar name, “whiskey-jack”, was taken from Wiskedjak, Wisagatcak, Wisekejack, or other variations of a word used in the Algonquian family of aboriginal languages of eastern Canada to designate a mischievous, transforming spirit who liked to play tricks on people.The bird’s fearless and venturesome behaviour has amused and irked those who work in the forest and earned it many colloquial names such as “meat-bird” and “camp-robber”.Quick to learn that humans can be an excellent source of food, the Gray Jay often visits lumber camps, kills made by hunters, and the campsites of canoeists, looking for scraps of anything edible.The Gray Jay is indelibly associated with Canada’s great northern forests. ![]()
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