Plate 107 – Canada Jay

John James Audubon venturing to such areas as the Florida Keys, Galveston, Texas, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and North Dakota and recording his observations added greatly to the scientific understanding of birds not only covering enormous distances to complete their migrations, but also where birds tend to be resident. For instance, Audubon discovered in Maine, Labrador, and Nova Scotia that where the Blue Jay starts to diminish, the number of Canada Jays begin to increase. In fact, Audubon notes, “I have found this species of Jay breeding in the State of Maine, where many individuals belonging to it reside the whole year, and where in fact so many as fifteen or twenty may be seen in the course of a day by a diligent person anxious to procure them. In the winter, their numbers are constantly augmented by those which repair to that country from places farther north. They advance to the southward as far as the upper parts of the State of New York, where the person who first gave intimation to Mr. [Alexander] WILSON that the species was to be found in the Union.” Whether it is due to the warmer temperatures associated with climate change or other factors, the range for the Canada Jay is apparently shifting farther north. According to Cornell’s e-Bird system, no one in Maine has counted more than 12 Canada Jays (see eBird Checklist S54531093).