Food-Focused and Fierce

Meet Canada jays and learn why they eat almost anything they can find

- EMILY HANNEMANN

If you hear a scratchy, whistling call coming from the trees near your campsite, you might want to hide your crackers. Boisterous Canada jays have a well-earned reputation as food thieves, although there's more to them than their habit of stealing hikers' snacks.

Gray Jay No More

Even if you haven't heard of Canada jays, you've heard of their relatives. Members of the corvid family, they belong to the same group as American crows, blackbilled magpies, and jays including blue, Steller's and scrub. "Unlike many of the other jays, a Canada jay doesn't have a crest of any kind; it just has a rounded head," says Dale Gentry, director of conservation for Audubon Upper Mississippi River.