When I stop for a snack in Paradise Meadows, I hold my granola bar close.
Within moments, a robin-sized bird bends the top of a nearby mountain hemlock, its dark-eyed gaze locked on my hand. More arrive, and soon I’m surrounded. I know if I put food on my hand the birds will land on it. Some won’t even wait for my open-palmed invitation.
These fearless, gregarious birds are Canada jays (whiskey jacks), ubiquitous throughout the rolling plateau around Mount Washington Alpine Resort.
A researcher’s lifelong fascination
Canada jays have always fascinated 82-year-old Dan Strickland. For decades, he studied them at the southern edge of their range in Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park. Then, in 2010, he discovered the Vancouver Island birds.
“The first time I stepped into Paradise Meadows I was mobbed by seven jays,” he says. “I thought, ‘There is something weird going on here.’ That put a bee in my bonnet.”
When Strickland retired in 2016, he moved to Courtenay specifically to unravel the secrets of the Paradise Meadows jays. He and a team of collaborators have been studying them ever since. There are more than 100 birds in 21 territories in Strickland’s study zone.
Distinctive characteristics of the Pacific coastal variety
Canada jays live across the country in three distinct populations or morphotypes. All three look similar: grey back, white belly, dark crown. However, Paradise Meadows’ birds—part of a Pacific coastal variety that lives in subalpine forests from Oregon north—magically change colour, slowly turning from grey to brownish. Only one other bird species is known to change colour without moulting.
Whiskey jacks spend their lives within well-defined territories. They eat just about anything: insects, berries, mushrooms, small animals, even slime moulds—something no other bird has been reported to eat.
Unusual behaviors and interactions with humans
And of course, they love hikers’ snacks. They are one of the few wild birds that will eat right out of a human hand. “No one knows why they are so fearless,” Strickland says. “One guess is they evolved in a habitat where they hardly ever saw people.”
Another mystery about Canada jays: they survive surprisingly well in frigid boreal forests and snowy mountain environments Over 90 per cent of adults survive the winter—dramatically more than almost any other similar-sized bird. And curiously, they begin nesting as early as March, when the ground is covered in snow.
The secret to winter survival
The secret to their survival, Strickland has discovered, is what they do with their food (after they’ve stolen it right out of my hand). They have extra-large saliva glands that they use to coat the morsel to make it sticky. Then they tuck it under the bark of a yellow cedar or hide it in witch’s hair, a lichen that hangs off branches. Both have antibacterial qualities that help preserve the food for months.
Where different subspecies of Canada jays differ, and what shocked Strickland on that first visit to Paradise Meadows, is their social nature. Throughout most of their range Canada jays have single-child households; the strongest chick kicks out its siblings. (Another odd behaviour for a bird.)
Unique social dynamics on Vancouver Island
Before coming to Vancouver Island, Strickland had almost never seen more than three Canada jays together; in Paradise Meadows, it’s rare for a territory to have fewer than three birds. He thinks our relatively milder weather means there’s more food available year round, so young jays can be sociable.
At least for now.
Climate change threats to the species
The Canada jay population is declining rapidly along the southern edge of its range, likely due to shorter, warmer winters. “The jays depend on winter as a fridge, and now the fridge is failing,” Strickland says.
He hasn’t noticed a population decline in Paradise Meadows. Yet. That’s why keeping an eye on the jays is so important.
“They are the bird-world equivalent of the polar bear poster child of climate change,” he says. “We don’t want to wake up one day and realize there are no Canada jays living in Paradise Meadows any more.”
It’s okay to feed the jays
One of the tenets of outdoor ethics is not feeding wildlife, including birds. The argument is that human food corrupts wild animals and only leads to trouble. But Strickland sees no harm in feeding Canada jays because they are already comfortable around people. “Besides, the benefits from having a bird land on a child’s hand and making a connection with the natural world are infinitely worth it,” he says.
