I know I’ve posted other images of gray jays before, but this one was pretty insistent that I take its picture.
Gray Jay
Gray Jays
We took a break before hiking in the Hurricane Ridge area of the Olympic National Park. We immediately we visited by a flock of gray jays. I am always amazed how they seem to know where someone is eating. We guard our food carefully, since they are so little afraid of humans that they will swoop down and grab food off the picnic table right in front of you.
I like the different expressions they exhibit. And their lack of fear of humans (while generally a bad thing) is helpful for being able to get images like these with your iPhone. I shot these with my iPhone 16 Pro Max. I had a camera with me, but left it in the knapsack for these.
Gray Jay
This jay was keeping an eye on me … checking to see if I was going to bring out any food. I see the gray jays often in the Olympic National Park … where there are lots of them year-round. Folks break the “do not feed the wildlife” rule frequently … often holding their snacks out in their hands … which will bring the jays down to eat out of your hand. This, of course, has just reinforced their begging and stealing behaviors. When I’ve been out backpacking, I’ve had to be very careful while fixing/eating dinner … I don’t backpack food in for the birds!
Subalpine Birds
I took these photos up at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park recently. It was a gray day with heavy cloud cover. There is a nice paved road all the way up and the views are spectacular (even in cloudy weather; see recent posts … including the ones coming up). It’s over 5000′ … so one of the few places you can drive to the high country in the Olympics (the other being Deer Park). That elevation is in the subalpine zone in the Olympics … and there aren’t as many bird types up there as in lower areas. A couple of the regulars are shown here: Gray Jays (AKA Canada Jays or “Camp Robbers”) and Blue Grouse (AKA Sooty Grouse). (Missing were ravens and hawks)
High Country Birds
it is a hard life trying to find adequate food in the high country in winter. I shared some organic grains with the gray jay (even though it’s against the rules). That attracted the attention of the raven, but it was much too shy/wary to come so close.
