Blue Jay

Blue Jay  This common songbird is familiar to many folks in northern Illinois.  They seem to stick around all winter.  Blue Jays are well known for their intelligence and tight family bonds. Their fondness for acorns helped spread oak trees after the last glacial period.  Thousands of Blue Jays migrate in flocks along the Great Lakes each year, but little is known about their migration.  Young jays are more likely to migrate than adults, but adults also migrate. No one has determined why they migrate when they do or why some migrate while others do not.