“To them, the gray jay is a stranger.”
December 6, 2016 3:49 PM   Subscribe

We give you the gray jay. Also known as the whiskey jack or Canada jay, it is Canadian Geographic’s official choice for National Bird of Canada. [Canadian Geographic] There are more than 450 species of birds across Canada, but until now, not one of them has been designated as our national bird. In 2015, the team at Canadian Geographic decided it was time to change that, and founded the National Bird Project with the aim of declaring an official bird for Canada by 2017, the 150th anniversary of Confederation.

- 'The grey what?' Outcry as grey jay named Canada's national bird. [The Toronto Star]
“The grey jay actually came third in voting behind the loon and the snowy owl, but was chosen following a public debate and deliberations by a panel. The winner was announced Wednesday evening at the society’s annual dinner in Ottawa. Bird (the ornithologist, not the jay) said the whisky jack has been shown to be “the smartest bird on the planet.” They’re renowned in First Nations lore for warning people of predators in the woods and even leading lost travellers home by calling from tree to tree. And like the much smaller chickadee, they’ll alight on a human hand in the wild to eat proffered seeds without training — even if many urban Canadians have never seen one. “Yes, it is a bird that you’re really going to have to visit Canada’s wild spaces — the boreal forest habitat that it lives in — but if you do, there’s a good chance that you will see one,” said Kylie. “Imagine having a bird about the size of a blue jay come and sit on your finger and eat seeds out of your hand. It’s unreal.””
- Is the gray jay fit to be Canada's national bird, or is that just loony? [Ottawa Citizen]
“But is it a loony choice? “What’s the value of a symbol that nobody knows?” asked local naturalist and ecological consultant Daniel Brunton, an avowed gray jay lover. “Walk down Sparks Street and stop 50 people … 49 of them won’t have seen them,” he said. “It’s a magnificent creature. The imagery and the metaphor for Canada is ideal … but it’s really obscure.” Brunton has snowshoed into Algonquin Park to find their nests but argues most Canadians likely never will. “It seems to me that a national symbol should be something that most of the people in the nation have some familiarity with, like, duh, the loon,” Brunton said. “The loon is a symbol of the North. It has a spectacular voice. It is one of the great sounds of wilderness.””
- A Proposal for a Canadian National Bird Ruffles Feathers [The New York Times]
““I know a lot of Canadians didn’t know what the gray jay was, and were asking: ‘Do I see it in my feeder?’” Professor Bird said. “And there are still people angry because they felt the popular vote was not honored.” Mr. Kylie, the editor of Canadian Geographic, said that the loon and snowy owl were excluded from final consideration because they were already used as symbols by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. He said the relative unfamiliarity of the gray jay, also known as the whiskey jack, weighed on the plus side, not the minus. “We have an animal symbol, which is the beaver,” he said by way of analogy. “I would say that most Canadians don’t see a beaver in a given year. The fact that some Canadians don’t know this bird, I think, is all the more reason to have it proclaimed the national bird.” Then you have the spelling of the bird’s names. Following the usual Canadian style, it ought to be called the grey jay, with an e, or the whisky jack, without one. The “gray” and “whiskey” spellings are seen (and resented) as Americanisms.”
posted by Fizz (65 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
From the NYTimes article:
“David Bird, a professor emeritus of wildlife biology and an ornithologist at McGill University in Montreal, was the bird’s booster in the debate.”
:D
posted by Fizz at 3:50 PM on December 6, 2016 [11 favorites]


Yay, birds! I've never seen a Gray Jay, but it looks beautiful and seems like a good candidate for national bird. Loons are fine, but they're already identified with money. And snowy owls are cool, but like all owls (imo) they're strange, specialized killers that don't really represent Canadian values. A widely distributed, extremely smart and sometimes friendly bird like the Gray Jay sounds like the best choice.

But with respect to Professor Bird (lol), it's not that hard to see beavers if you want to look for them. You can just stake out a pond with a dam and wait. These jays seem more elusive.
posted by Kevin Street at 4:01 PM on December 6, 2016 [6 favorites]


I don't think I've ever seen a Grey Jay, I live in Southern Ontario, in the Niagara region, but I do approve of this selection. It is very striking. If anything, an excuse for me to finally travel up north and explore a bit more of the outdoors. Hopefully I'll get to see one some day.
posted by Fizz at 4:08 PM on December 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


I think our national bird should be the Bastard Chickadee.


That's the Chickadee that likes to chirp in an extremely loud voice right outside your window at 5:30am.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:13 PM on December 6, 2016 [11 favorites]


Oooh, I saw some gray jays this summer out at Rattlesnake Ridge, east of Seattle. They were very interesting birds. Good choice, Canadians.
posted by isthmus at 4:14 PM on December 6, 2016


Also known as camp robbers, these birds like to hang out near popular hiking and camping spots, and they can be fairly aggressive about collecting their tribute in trail mix.

It's always fun to bring city folk on a hike, and summon wild gray jays to land on your outstretched hand with a little bit of food. They think you're some kind of bird whisperer, but really the little birds are just smart and opportunistic.
posted by mammoth at 4:15 PM on December 6, 2016 [12 favorites]


Yay! Here's a gray jay shot I can offer, taken up in Yukon after a lynx kill (of a snowshoe hare).

One I can say on their behalf: If the gray jays in your woods come to know you as someone with peanut butter in your pocket, they will appear whenever you enter the woods, flitting from branch to branch, following you. And when you set a squirrel trap with that peanut butter, they will fly in and eat it, and get trapped. And then they will wait for you to let them out and reset it, so they can fly in again and eat your peanut butter.

Not a problem for me because I didn't do too much trapping, but I had a friend who swore they could recognize him by his jacket and would dog him no matter what he was in the woods to do. (And mess up his trapping if he was there to do that.)
posted by little onion at 4:15 PM on December 6, 2016 [9 favorites]


like all owls (imo) they're strange, specialized killers that don't really represent Canadian values

Canadian tall poppy syndrome striking again. Owls are totally sweet, FTR.
posted by Space Coyote at 4:17 PM on December 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


I love gray jays! They really do look like giant chickadees. We encountered many during a late fall cabin visit near Ely, MN, and it was amazing how friendly and fearless they are. Smart and neighborly -- good choice Canada!
posted by Malla at 4:31 PM on December 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


We have a small number of them in eastern Toronto near where I live. They're pretty cool. You wouldn't see them anywhere near downtown.
posted by scruss at 4:32 PM on December 6, 2016


Gray Jays are so lovely! They're funny, social birds - they hide until they hear human voices, then they'll come and investigate. I used to see a lot of them when hiking in Vancouver area. If you suspect they're around and want to coax them into your hand, making a whispery call (basically blowing your breath through closed teeth) usually brings them closer.
posted by Paper rabies at 4:35 PM on December 6, 2016 [3 favorites]


I speak as a Michigander: it is all very well when you are nine years old to have your bird be a robin, your animal a white-tailed deer and your flower an apple blossom, but then you hit your teens and wonder what sort of dismal unimaginative grown-ups picked the least distinctive possible symbols for your state. Michigan has the Kirtland warbler, found nowhere else; it has blue-tailed skinks; it has bog orchids. I vote for those. As for Gray jays: I saw one once and it was a fine bird.
posted by acrasis at 4:36 PM on December 6, 2016 [12 favorites]


The most common birds we get in the Niagara region are Blue Jays, Cardinals, Robins, Swifts, & Red-Winged Blackbirds. Our next door neighbors have a ton of feeders, so we get to benefit from that as well in our yard. The Red-Winged Blackbirds in particular are just huge assholes.
posted by Fizz at 4:37 PM on December 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


I'm pretty sure these are the birds that would reliably appear and expect to eat trail mix out of people's hands at the Six Glaciers Teahouse above Lake Louise about ten years ago when I visited there. So if they're still there, that's one easy way to get to see them without venturing too deeply into inaccessible wilderness, for Canadians who ever visit that area and want to commune with the whiskeyjack. But I've also seen one right in downtown Espanola, so it may not be necessary to go that far.
posted by sfenders at 4:38 PM on December 6, 2016


Well I don't want to belittle Grey Jays, but I'm pretty sure the sound of a loon over a shield lake late on a summer's night is the most Canadian sound ever and the loon got robbed because it's already on the dollar coin.
posted by GuyZero at 4:45 PM on December 6, 2016 [11 favorites]


If you hike across the ridge trail through Killarney Provincial Park, you might see one at the nice vista overlooking Whiskeyjack Lake.

(Don't hike across the ridge trail through Killarney Provincial Park unless you like hiking up and down steep ridges;)
posted by ovvl at 4:48 PM on December 6, 2016


David Bird is great.

But yeah: if you're having a popular vote with a list of birds you specifically chose, why would you specifically choose birds only to drop them if they won? All they had to do was not include the loon or the snowy owl or other provincial birds.

On preview: GuyZero, my understanding is that the loon was excluded because it's already the Ontario bird, and the snowy owl Quebec.
posted by jeather at 4:48 PM on December 6, 2016


On preview: GuyZero, my understanding is that the loon was excluded because it's already the Ontario bird, and the snowy owl Quebec.

I suppose that's understandable seeing as being popular in Ontario is more important than being popular in the rest of Canada.

*ducks and runs*
posted by GuyZero at 4:50 PM on December 6, 2016 [9 favorites]


If you pick the loon, you tick off Quebec. If you pick the snowy owl, you tick off Ontario. If you pick the Canada goose, you tick off everyone because those things are nasty.

I understood this was the only choice found in literally every province and territory. It's underappreciated, friendly, smaller than its more flamboyant cousin, and aggressive whenever it hears the HNIC theme. Great choice.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 4:51 PM on December 6, 2016 [15 favorites]


They’re renowned in First Nations lore for warning people of predators in the woods and even leading lost travellers home by calling from tree to tree.

Gray jays are also renowned in mountain lion, wolf, and bear lore for leading them to lost travelers.
posted by sebastienbailard at 4:54 PM on December 6, 2016 [23 favorites]


I do not think it was a bad choice. I think that putting the loon and the snowy owl up for a vote was a bad choice.
posted by jeather at 4:58 PM on December 6, 2016


They are so pretty and friendly just like all the Canadians I know.
posted by pipoquinha at 4:58 PM on December 6, 2016 [5 favorites]


Thieving little bastards.
posted by humboldt32 at 5:05 PM on December 6, 2016 [3 favorites]


Many years ago I tried hiking the highest peak in Colorado only a few days after arriving at elevation. Big mistake. I was up above the treeline and I started to get super woozy. Sat down on a big boulder and started eating a double chocolate Clif bar. Fell asleep in a haze. Woke up some time later and happily standing in my open hand nibbling on the remaining energy bar was a Gray Jay.

And that is my Gray Jay story.
posted by mcstayinskool at 5:13 PM on December 6, 2016 [25 favorites]


The most important consideration, IMHO, is how your leaders will look in photos with the national animal. Can you imagine the prime minister posing with a loon? The gray jay is better, but not by much-- it's a side character's familiar. Common raven and snowy owl were the best two options in this regard, birds you can look really dramatic with.
posted by Pyry at 5:19 PM on December 6, 2016 [4 favorites]


Jays in general are very cool and smart birds, so I approve of this choice.
posted by tavella at 5:21 PM on December 6, 2016


I understand and agree with the choice, and I am not Canadian, but it must have been hard not to go with the owl.
posted by vrakatar at 5:52 PM on December 6, 2016


I live on Vancouver Island, and I've never seen a Gray Jay. I have seen the Steller's Jay quite a bit, but you have to travel northwest of Sooke (where the coastal Sitka spruce forests start) in order to see them.
posted by My Dad at 5:54 PM on December 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


the friendly spirit in Canada’s wild northern boreal and mountain forests

If by "friendly" you mean "Will mug you of your lunch as soon as you sit down during your hike for a break."

Or maybe that's just the gray jays in the US (I was mugged on a trail in the environs of Snohomish). Maybe the ones in Canada are not as mugg-y.
posted by rtha at 5:57 PM on December 6, 2016 [5 favorites]


Witnesses describe the proceedings as fraught with controversy.
posted by sebastienbailard at 5:59 PM on December 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


rtha, are you saying the birds were angry?
posted by vrakatar at 6:01 PM on December 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


Not at all! They were just very... insistent that the sandwich I was trying to eat actually belonged to them.
posted by rtha at 6:04 PM on December 6, 2016 [7 favorites]


Whiskey jack. The Great Spirit approves.
posted by elsietheeel at 6:13 PM on December 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


Alone in the Rockies in the middle of winter, stopped for a bite, there was not a sound, not a motion except for this one cheery little bird.
posted by No Robots at 6:47 PM on December 6, 2016


Good pick, I think. Except for possibly the Snowy, it's the only one of the top five that seems to be more-or-less a Canadian exclusive. God knows we have enough Chickadees and Canadian geese here in Indiana. Goddamn geese are like aerial sqirrels, there's so many down here. A lot meaner than squirrels, though.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:59 PM on December 6, 2016


I love these birds. Saw lots of them at Lake Tipsoo at Mt. Rainier a number years ago, and gave one a prominent role in a scene in the novel I'm writing.
posted by lhauser at 7:07 PM on December 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


I adore loons, and we have been able to get a bit north of Toronto every year, at some friends' cottages or overnight on our boat, and a loon call in the quiet night is unfailingly haunting and beautiful. But just think if the loon was the national bird: every friggin Canadian government radio or tv promotion would end with the same two-note loon call. No thanks.

I've seen a few gray jays. My Dad used to work in the forests of Northern Ontario and also in North BC, and was fond of the whiskeyjacks.

Good choice.
posted by Artful Codger at 7:09 PM on December 6, 2016


I don't think I've ever seen one, but I know of them from the Stan Rogers song. As far as I can recall, ravens, owlets, chickens, geese,and larks are the only other birds mentioned in a Stan Rogers songs. Ravens, owlets, and larks are mentioned in songs set outside of Canada (and ravens and owlets in a song written by Archie Fischer, not Stan Rogers himself). Chickens aren't native to Canada. Geese are assholes.

Therefore, I declare the whiskey jack to the official choice of Stan Rogers, and thus an exceptionally Canadian choice.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:26 PM on December 6, 2016 [7 favorites]


It seems like the snowy owl and the loon really were the spokes-animals for the Hinterland Who's Who, though. They were on there all the time. It looks like the Gray Jay never made the hinterland who's who list.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:33 PM on December 6, 2016


The only Whiskey Jack I've seen was from Tennessee.
posted by Kabanos at 7:45 PM on December 6, 2016


I approve.
posted by BlueJae at 8:13 PM on December 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


Chickens aren't native to Canada.

Canadian Chantecler: A quiet dual-purpose bird with much breast and thigh meat.
posted by sfenders at 8:13 PM on December 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


I see whiskey jacks on a regular basis here in Banff. Calling them out of nowhere while hiking with visiting friends and having them land on my palm is probably the only magic trick I know.
posted by furtive at 8:55 PM on December 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


The birds regularly appear at my parents' feeder; it's nice to see them with the odd blue jay and cardinal but most of the time, we're talking chickadees, sparrows, crows & red squirrels (along with the odd white-tail deer and black bear). The old Thunder Bay minor league baseball team was called the Whiskey Jacks, so I'm down with the national bird being the ol'grey jay.
posted by myopicman at 8:59 PM on December 6, 2016


they are adorable! I approve
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 9:39 PM on December 6, 2016


I was all bummed until I learned it's the bird I knew as the whiskey jack... friendly cheerful birds of my cross country skiing youth!

(I do so love the haunting cry if the loon, though.)
posted by chapps at 9:39 PM on December 6, 2016


I propose Geese are assholes as the new national motto. What would that be in Latin?
posted by chapps at 9:41 PM on December 6, 2016 [4 favorites]


vrakatar: ...

That's totally ookpik isn't it!?
posted by chapps at 9:52 PM on December 6, 2016


“I propose Geese are assholes as the new national motto. What would that be in Latin?”

“Branta podices sunt” is my guess.
posted by traveler_ at 9:55 PM on December 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


The whiskey jack is a fine bird. Friendly little thieves, and very clever.

(Don't hike across the ridge trail through Killarney Provincial Park unless you like hiking up and down steep ridges;)

I would also recommend not taking any portages that cross that trail or follow it for any length either, unless you like hiking up and down those same ridges with a canoe on your head. Also, Kakakise Lake is a disappointment for everything except fishing. Also, try to plan around paddling west on Killarney Lake during the afternoon; the wind will reliably come from the west, unlike the big lakes in Algonquin, where a stiff headwind is reliable regardless of the direction of travel.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 10:54 PM on December 6, 2016


Following the usual Canadian style, it ought to be called the grey jay, with an e, or the whisky jack, without one. The “gray” and “whiskey” spellings are seen (and resented) as Americanisms.

Indeed. Get on the trolley, Canadiornithologists!

(I propose we rename it Goose Daniel's.)
posted by Sys Rq at 11:01 PM on December 6, 2016 [3 favorites]


I had never heard this bird called anything but a Whisky Jack by run of the mill Canadians.
posted by fairmettle at 4:04 AM on December 7, 2016 [1 favorite]


> The most important consideration, IMHO, is how your leaders will look in photos with the national animal.

Agreed.
posted by ardgedee at 4:07 AM on December 7, 2016 [3 favorites]


We had a cabin in whistler when I was a child and my mom used to put pieces of bacon on our heads and the whisky jacks would land on them to eat it.
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 5:10 AM on December 7, 2016 [5 favorites]


I've been talking to every crow I see ever and trying to feed them, in hopes to have a corvid friend. After all these years of failure, you're telling me all I have to do is go to Canada to make my disney wish come true?
posted by FirstMateKate at 5:51 AM on December 7, 2016 [1 favorite]


Dr. Bird has been campaigning hard for the Grey Jay for years, so I'm thrilled he was finally victorious! Whiskyjack is such a great choice, truly representative of Canadians: breeds here and travels through the US, associated with First Nations mythology, friendly, inquisitive, chatty, smart as heck, and often found lurking in campgrounds.
My partner was one of Dr. Bird's students, and we have a lot of discussions about emblem birds in this household. Yes, we judge you.

Top 5 States Birds
Cactus Wren: Arizona has so many cool birds (Elf Owl, anyone? Elegant Trogon?), it's sweet that they went with one of the least flashy.
Baltimore Oriole: pretty bird, looks good on a baseball hat.
Brown Pelican: charismatic species with a cool backstory, fully embraced by people in Louisiana.
Roadrunner: obvious but iconic for New Mexico. Seeing one in the road there was a top life birding moment.
DC and non-contiguous states and territories: seriously, all of them have awesome locally representative choices. Get it together, Lower 48!

Bottom 5 States Birds
Northern Cardinal/Robin: ten states need to stop letting children pick this shit.
Black-capped Chickadee: seriously Maine and Mass, both of which have an embarrassment of cool seaside species to pick from.
Western Meadowlark: the Cardinal of the west.
Ring-necked Pheasant: an exotic species introduced for humans to shoot at.
Northern Mockingbird: it's not a bad choice for the more boring birding states like Arkansas, but COME ON FLORIDA! Ok, Flamingo would be too easy and also kind of a lie, but what about Magnificent Frigatebird, Limpkins, Florida Scrubjay, or any number of awesome tropical weirdos that hang out there?
posted by Freyja at 7:48 AM on December 7, 2016 [4 favorites]


Common raven and snowy owl were the best two options in this regard, birds you can look really dramatic with.

I think that looking really dramatic is not the Canadian way.
posted by heatherlogan at 7:57 AM on December 7, 2016


Ah Canadian Geographic. I wish they'd stick to crowdsourcing birds.
posted by anthill at 8:04 AM on December 7, 2016


Camp Robber Jay. They will follow you around and steal your snacks.
posted by bwvol at 8:12 AM on December 7, 2016


Gray Jay Story 1:

We were snow-shoeing up near Mt. Hood some years back and planned to eat our lunch by a small, frozen lake. As we neared the lake, more and more of these curious little birds flitted about in the trees. The Gray Jays. We got to the lake and there were at least a dozen hanging around. We had brought a little stove to warm soup, some sandwiches and a bag of crackers and cheese. While I set up the stove, my husband pulls out his sandwich and as he goes to take a bite, simultaneously a Jay flies right into his face as another eight or so alight on the ground at his feet. He hollered and shooed at them and then tried to take another bite. Same thing – Jay at face, other Jays at feet. I'm laughing my ass off at this point and we realize that the goal was to get the man to throw his sandwich which the other birds would no doubt peck to pieces. Very cunning. We just had soup for our lunch there lakeside.

Gray Jay Story 2:

The following winter, I take a friend cross-country skiing up Mt. Hood. She was new to it, rented gear and all. I made her a bag of GORP for the outing. At some point, we stop to snack and it's a fine clear day, we are warm enough that we have our jackets tied around our waists. I pop open my ziploc bag of GORP with a >pip< sound and here come a few Jays into the trees nearby. I mutter, "oh great, fucking Gray Jays." After a few moments of thoughtful silence, my friend says, "Uhm...why do we dislike the cute birdies?" I just look at her with a smirk, pull a nut out of my stash and hold it out in my open palm. Instantly a Jay swoops in, lands on my hand and takes the nut. My friend nearly fell over. I didn't actually know that was going to happen. It's one of my top five moments.
posted by amanda at 12:55 PM on December 7, 2016 [11 favorites]


No love for choice number 5, the Black-Capped Chickadee? I recall its singing as the background soundtrack of pleasant times in the forests of Ontario.
posted by Rash at 2:51 PM on December 7, 2016


Chickadees are cool, but they're already the official bird of New Brunswick and a couple of US states.
posted by Kevin Street at 4:24 PM on December 7, 2016


Freyja: "Western Meadowlark: the Cardinal of the west. "

Even worse this is a Meadowhawk and I keep getting the two confused.

bwvol: "Camp Robber Jay. They will follow you around and steal your snacks."

For people who only get out in the wood a couple times a year this is a complete bonus as annoying as it might be for people who see them all the time.
posted by Mitheral at 5:42 PM on December 7, 2016


Chickadee is probably the official bird of our back yard. I like'em.
posted by Artful Codger at 8:41 AM on December 8, 2016


so glad the gosh dang canado goose was not choosed.
posted by rebent at 7:45 AM on December 30, 2016


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