Gray Jays

By Jeremy Phillips, Naturalist

Once you reach the evergreen forests in higher altitudes around the state of New Hampshire, there is a well-adapted suitor of food that awaits you. Gray Jays are famous for their ability to attain food and will do so by any means. They eat just about anything from insects, berries, carrion, baby birds, or human food. Gray jays store food by using sticky saliva and putting a gooey mash of the food under bark, in the crooks of trees, or other hiding places.

Commonly, gray jays will frequent areas travel led by people. Scenic overlooks on the tops of mountains are great places to look for these birds as they comb the area looking for crumbs left by hikers. The birds in these pictures were doing just that. They would even swoop in, seemingly, to attempt to steal our sandwiches directly from our grasp.