Botanical Glossary - Home

Cyanocitta Stelleri Perched above the feeder outside the Old Customs House in Britannia Beach. The Old Customs House was converted to an art Gallery by Milda Dohnalek, and together with with her son, Michael and daughter, Cathie run the gallery located on the waterfront side of Highway 99. The emphasis of this gallery is the 100% made in B.C. art made by expert artists and crafts people. Fine art, West Coast Native Indian carvings, Photography, paintings, and a wide variety of local crafts can be found here.

Brightly colored and conspicuous the Steller's Jay wears his stately Azure feathers with accents of deep blue on the tail, head, crest and back. Clearly, the Steller's Jay is the Aristocrat of the Jay family and announces it with a deep, reverberating Shaaaak, Shaaaak, Shaaaack call. This largest member of the Jay family will forage in forests or orchards for insects, nuts, and fruits but will also take it's turn at the bird feeders to munch on seeds. The Steller's Jay has also been known to feed on the smaller eggs of songbirds as a slight change of his eclectic diet, and I have also observed Jays mimicking Woodpeckers foraging techniques on the trunks of spar trees busily pecking away looking for insects beneath the surface.

The Steller's Jay ranges from the coastline of southwestern Alaska to the south through deciduous forests of Pacific States and Rockies to Nicaragua.