Siberian Jay

Overview

The Siberian jay, Perisoreus infaustus, is a small jay with a widespread distribution within the coniferous forests of North Eurasia. It is the smallest of the western Palearctic corvids, weighing 75 to 90 g and measuring about 30 cm in length.

Identification

• Overall greyish brown plumage with a dark brown head, buff breast, and yellowish rump.
• Rufous streaking on the outer feathers, with a rusty-red panel near the wing-bend, on the undertail coverts, and on the sides of the tail.
• Black bill and legs.
• Mostly silent but can emit a loud screech similar to a buzzard, alongside a wide repertoire of whistling, creaking, and trilling sounds.

Habitat

Resident in the northern boreal spruce, pine, cedar, and larch forests stretching from Scandinavia to northern Russia and Siberia. The species prefers dense, mature forest habitat with a closed canopy in lowland and foothill areas, notably selecting old dense spruce swamps with ample vegetation cover.

Diet

Omnivorous, feeding mainly on berries, seeds, insects, and spiders, while occasionally consuming small mammals, eggs, and carrion. It is a scatter hoarder that stores food behind loose bark or in beard lichen, using special saliva glands to form sticky clumps for adhesion.

Did you know?

Despite being a gregarious corvid that lives in small flocks, Siberian jays are unusual for this group because non-breeding group members do not help raise the offspring, a trait believed to have evolved as an anti-predator strategy to avoid attracting attention.