Blue jay
Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758)
The blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata), also called the Jay-bird, is a bird in the family Corvidae and the order Passeriformes, part of the songbirds and other perching birds. It is a small bird with an adult body mass of 88 g, and it is an omnivore living in woodland with a terrestrial, sedentary lifestyle.
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Quick facts about the blue jay
The blue jay lays 4.34 eggs per clutch on average, with one clutch per year and an incubation period of 17 days, and it reaches sexual maturity at 1.1 years. Its lifespan is given as 18.3 years, with values up to 26.2 years reported, and the IUCN Red List rates it Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 77.1 g – 88 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 18.3 years – 26.2 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- seedssrc for Main food
- Habitat
- woodlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 17 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4.34src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 12 months – 15 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Reproduction
- Eggssrc for Reproduction
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the blue jay
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the blue jay live?
Not recorded
What is the blue jay?
The blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to eastern North America. It lives in most of the eastern and central United States; some eastern populations may be migratory. Resident populations are also in Newfoundland, Canada; breeding populations are found across southern Canada. It breeds in both deciduous and coniferous forests, and is common in residential areas. Its coloration is predominantly blue, with a white chest and underparts, and a blue crest; it has a black, U-shaped collar around its neck and a black border behind the crest. Males and females are similar in size and plumage, which does not vary throughout the year. Four subspecies have been recognized.
The blue jay feeds mainly on seeds and nuts, such as acorns, which it may hide to eat later; soft fruits; arthropods; and occasionally small vertebrates. It typically gleans food from trees, shrubs, and the ground, and sometimes hawks insects from the air. Blue jays can be very aggressive to other birds; they sometimes raid nests and have even been found to have decapitated other birds.
It builds an open cup nest in the branches of a tree; both sexes participate. The clutch may be two to seven eggs, which are bluish or light brown with darker brown spots. Young are altricial, and are brooded by the female for 8–12 days after hatching. They may stay with their parents for one to two months.
The name jay derives from the bird's noisy, garrulous nature and has been applied to many other birds of the same family, which are also mostly gregarious. Jays are also called jaybirds.
From the Wikipedia article “Blue jay” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blue_jay&oldid=1380656594), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the blue jay sound like?
Is the blue jay endangered?
The blue jay is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the blue jay classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyCorvidae
- genusCyanocitta
- SpeciesCyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Corvus cristatus, Garrulus cristatus
Other names and names in other languages (78)
- Jay-birdEnglish
- BlougaaiAfrikaans
- TiskilaAlabama
- قيق أزرقArabic
- Adi mavi zığ-zığAzerbaijani
- Блакітная сойкаBelarusian
- Американска синя сойкаBulgarian
- Kegin c'hlasBreton
- gaig nord-americàCatalan
- Gralla blava americanaCatalan
- Dídi:ˀCayuga
- ᏣᏱᎦCherokee
- Otá'tavåho'hé-vé'késoCheyenne
- sojka chocholatáCzech
- sgrech lasWelsh
- Blå SkovskadeDanish
- BlauhäherGerman
- Γαλάζια ΚίσσαGreek
- blua garoloEsperanto
- Chara azulSpanish
- Arrendajo azulSpanish
- Urraca azulSpanish
- sininäärEstonian
- Eskinoso urdinBasque
- جیجاق کبودPersian
- sinitöyhtönärhiFinnish
- Geai bleuFrench
- Geai-bleu criardFrench
- Scréachóg ghormIrish
- el pajaro se hace pajasIrish
- Screeaghag ghorrymManx
- עורבני כחולHebrew
- plava šojkaCroatian
- kék szajkóHungarian
- Կապույտ ճայArmenian
- Blua jeoIdo
- ᖁᐸᓄᐊᕐᔪᐊᖅInuktitut
- Ghiandaia azzurraItalian
- Ghiandaia azzurra americanaItalian
- アオカケスJapanese
- 파랑어치Korean
- amerikinis mėlynasis kėkštasLithuanian
- zilais sīlisLatvian
- titiesMi'kmaw
- ബ്ലൂ ജെയ്Malayalam
- Terì:teriMohawk
- Jay BiruMalay
- TvseMuscogee
- JoogiiNavajo
- Blauwe GaaiDutch
- BlåskrikjeNorwegian Nynorsk
- blåskrikeNorwegian
- DiindiisiOjibwa
- ਨੀਲ ਕੰਠPunjabi
- HarrevoggelPennsylvania German
- modrosójka błękitnaPolish
- نیل کنٹھWestern Panjabi
- gaio-azulPortuguese
- Gaița albastrăRomanian
- Голубая сойкаRussian
- Dí’di:’Seneca
- sojka modráSlovak
- kapuciarka modráSlovak
- Modra šojaSlovenian
- Плава шојкаSerbian
- плава крејаSerbian
- Plava krejaSerbian
- blåskrikaSwedish
- blue blueSwedish
- நீல அழகிTamil
- పాలపిట్టTelugu
- Mavi KargaTurkish
- Mavi alakargaTurkish
- Блакитна сойкаUkrainian
- сизойка блакитнаUkrainian
- Giẻ cùi lamVietnamese
- 冠蓝鸦Chinese
- 冠藍鴉Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the blue jay
Other species in the same genus Cyanocitta.
Mountain jay
Cyanocitta stelleri
CompareBlue jay vs Mountain jay
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the blue jay?
The blue jay is a bird in the family Corvidae, order Passeriformes, grouped with the songbirds and other perching birds.
How heavy is a blue jay?
An adult Blue jay weighs 88 g, which places it in the small size class.
What does the blue jay eat?
The blue jay is an omnivore.
How long does a blue jay live?
The blue jay's lifespan is given as 18.3 years, and values up to 26.2 years have been reported.
Is the blue jay endangered?
No. The blue jay is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How many eggs does a blue jay lay?
The blue jay lays 4.34 eggs per clutch on average, with one clutch per year, and the eggs incubate for 17 days.
Does the blue jay migrate?
No. The blue jay is sedentary, and it lives in woodland.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/blue-jay
“Blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/blue-jay.
@misc{blue_jay_2026,
title = {Blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/blue-jay},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}