This is the only other jay that can naturally occur in the Upper Peninsula, along with the more familiar and common blue jay. It ranges farthest north of any of North America’s 10 jay species, deep into Alaska, though the Stellar’s jay — like a blue jay that plunged head and shoulders into fire pit ashes — on the western side of the continent can be seen in southern Alaska as well.

The Canada jay has been described as a much-larger version of the black-capped chickadee. It’s well-adapted for cold weather, with feathers covering the nostrils and very fluffy plumage to trap warmth close to the skin.

Formerly known as the gray (or, in light of the current name, grey) jay, the Canada jay — unofficially adopted as the national bird of that country in 2016; the name was switched back in 2018 to what it had been until 1957 — is cherished in the Great White North for its ability to endure whatever a boreal winter throws at it.

But it doesn’t just stay in the north and tough it out, like some other birds. The Canada jay actually nests in late winter, managing to raise charcoal-colored chicks even when temperatures plunge well below zero and food sources becomes scarce.

It does this by caching food, taking advantage of the onset of snow and cold to preserve those stores, using a sticky saliva to glue seeds, insects, berries and more under the bark of trees or branches.

The jays then tap into what might be thousands of caches through the leaner times to feed themselves and their chicks, according to online sources.

Which is thought to be a major reason why Canada jays are struggling now in some parts of their range.

A study released in 2019 of Canada jays in Ontario’s Algonquin Park, done by Alex Sutton and colleagues at the University of Guelph, found warmer autumns and winters that allowed for repeated thawing might be spoiling these food caches, according to a May 2019 Audubon article by Kat Eschner. The full article can be read at https://www.audubon.org/news/thanks-climate-change-canada-jays-may-eat-freezer-burned-food-all-winter.

“It’s a concept first proposed in 2006 by Dan Strickland, co-author on the new study and a former chief naturalist at Algonquin who began closely observing the jays’ breeding habits in the 1970s. After analyzing decades of data, the researchers found climate in the park in autumn may affect the birds’ breeding success the following spring. In autumns in which temperatures froze and then thawed again — sometimes multiple times — Canada Jays tended to have smaller clutches of eggs, fewer eggs that hatched, and weaker nestlings the following breeding season.”

Canada jay numbers are thought to have declined by more than 50% in Algonquin Park since the 1980s, Sutton said in the article.

An April 14 article by Jeremy Freed in Canada’s The Globe and Mail warned, “According to a study by Parks Canada, the National Audubon Society, the Canadian Wildlife Service and Birds Canada, the Canada jay could lose as much as 71% of its current breeding range in Canada over the next 30 years, a significant loss for both Canadian biodiversity and the country’s birders.” That article can be read at https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article-climate-change-is-changing-how-we-birdwatch/.

If that’s happening in Canada, the effect likely is more pronounced here, at what is considered the southern edge of its boreal forest range. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources listed the Canada jay as a species of greatest conservation need, or SGCN, in 2015.

Despite that, this might be one of the best times of the year to potentially catch a glimpse of a Canada jay in the region.

Friday opened Michigan’s 16-day firearm deer season. Many of the region’s hunters have spent the past few weeks getting hunting camps ready — and one of the Canada jay’s common nicknames is “camp robber.”

Jays are members of the corvid family, which also includes crows, ravens and magpies. That group is thought to be among the most intelligent of all birds. They also like scavenging off carcasses. So Canada jays likely have figured out pickings could be good this time of year as they see human activity increase.

“They learn quickly to recognize and look for human food, as well as take advantage of game that has been shot or trapped by hunters,” according to the Canada jay profile on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds website, https://www.allaboutbirds.org.

The neighbor noted when they’ve had Canada jays in the past, they’ve usually been in pairs, but this one was by itself. She hoped it would stick around but it hasn’t reappeared after that first sighting Monday.

The last Canada jays that ventured into our yard — and the only ones I’ve been lucky enough to photograph — were a pair in late October 2017 that liked the suet, returning repeatedly for about two weeks before vanishing in about mid-November — again, near the start of the gun hunt.

So those at hunting camp should take time to appreciate these increasingly scarce “whiskey jacks” if they show up — and maybe even toss them a scrap or two.

Betsy Bloom can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 240, or bbloom@ironmountaindailynews.com.