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Cyanocitta stelleri
The adult coastal morph/western-variety is distinguished by blue streaks on its black crest.
Seen perched on an evergreen tree in a forest at an altitude of around 5000 feet in Mount Rainier National Park.
It was my first sighting of this west coast bird! It's also known as a mountain or pine jay. Stellar's jays found in the western interior differ from the coastal morph in that the former have white-streaked crests. There are possibly 16 subspecies.
Spotted on Jun 13, 2019
Submitted on Sep 21, 2019
4 Comments
Isn't it? It was my first Steller's jay sighting.
Beautiful bird. Never seen one like that in my life.
Thank you, Tukup! You’re lucky to have seen a gray jay... it’s on my list. :)
Great spotting Mauna. I saw my first Steller's Jay (along with the Canadian/Gray Jay) last month in the mountains of Colorado. I'll have to see if I can spot the difference in the crests. Thanks for the tip. Hope to post it soon. Good to see some new spottings again :-)