How do Blue Jays get their color?

The pigment in Blue Jay feathers is melanin, which is brown. The blue color is caused by scattering light through modified cells on the surface of the feather barbs.

What Colour is Steller’s jay?

blue
The Steller’s Jay is British Columbia’s provincial bird. It is a large, striking, bright blue and black songbird with a dark crest on its head. The wings and tail are a bright blue, and the body is a bit darker. The forehead generally has white and sky blue streaks.

Are Blue Jays feathers really blue?

They don’t exist. Anywhere. That means that blue jays aren’t blue, and neither are bluebirds. When white light strikes it, the keratin structure somehow amplifies the blue wavelengths while canceling out the red and white wavelengths, making the feather look blue.

Why are Blue Birds blue?

Why are bluebirds blue? Unlike many other bird colors, blue is not a pigment but a color produced by the structure of the feathers. Tiny air pockets and melanin pigment crystals in each feather scatter blue light and absorb the other wavelengths.

Is it illegal to have blue jay feathers?

According to the Migratory Birds Treaty Act, it is illegal to own native bird feathers or bits of egg shells, even if you found them in your yard. Technically, a child with a collection of colorful cardinal and blue jay feathers would indeed be considered a lawbreaker.

Do Blue Jays change color?

The wavelength of blue colors is a refracted wavelength. And it’s this refraction that actually changes the color from grayish brown to blue. Basically, it’s nothing more than an optical illusion. It’s a stunningly beautiful optical illusion, but an optical illusion nonetheless!

Are Stellar Jays blue?

Steller’s Jay Photos and Videos Hefty, crested bird with an attitude. They are half charcoal black and half blue. Adults along the Pacific Coast have blue streaks on their black crest.

Are Blue Jays mean?

Blue jays have a reputation for being aggressive but this just a manifestation of their territorial behavior. Blue jays are not inherently mean but they are fierce protectors of their nests and food sources. Blue jays are one of those bird species that we have unfair preconceptions about.

What kills a blue jay?

Adult blue jays are often preyed on by various species of hawks, owls, and falcons. Nestlings are preyed upon by squirrels, cats, snakes, American crows, other jays, raccoons, opossums, and birds of prey, such as hawks.

Are blue jays actually brown?

In actuality, though, blue jays aren’t really blue. In fact, blue pigment is rare in nature. Instead, the pigment in a blue jay’s feathers — melanin — is brown, but we perceive it as blue because of a phenomenon called light scattering, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Are blue jays rare?

Blue jays aren’t rare. Their population seems to have stabilized over the past few years. They inhabit mixed forests throughout the central and northern areas of the United States and the Southern Canadian Pacific Coast. They have extended northwestwards recently.