Totem
The Gray Jay
Yearly Cycle of Power: Late winter/Early Spring
Time of Power: Noon
Attributes: Boldness, Trust, Preparation, Thievery, Trickery, Quiet, Planning, Charm
The Gray Jay is a real enigma of a bird. People both love it and despise it. It is very bold and even though untamed, it will feed right form a persons hand without fear. It is also a master thief and will steal all the food from your campsite if it is able. The Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) is a member of the Corvid family (Crows, Jays, and Ravens) and is one of the smallest Jays in the world. You would not know it though as their big spirit and presence greatly overcomes any size difference. They weigh only about 70 grams. Both male and female look similar with light grey under parts, medium grey upper parts and a partially black capped head. Young birds, however, look much different being a uniform dark sooty gray colour. They live in coniferous Boreal or Sub-Alpine forests throughout Canada and in some parts of the U.S. (mainly the western mountains). The only defining characteristic of these forests is that they must contain one or more of the following types of trees: White Spruce, Black Spruce, Engleman Spruce, Lodgepole Pine, or Jack Pine. They have a lifespan of 8 years on average, but can live over 15 years. This is quite high for a bird of this size. It is also known as Whiskey Jack', 'Canada Jay', 'Camp Robber', or 'Moose Bird'.
One of the Gray Jays greatest adaptations is trust. This may seem like a strange adaptation, but it works for them in many ways. First off, they seem to sense or trust which humans they can feed from without harm. They fly down to perch on someone's hand/head/etc to get a treat of some sort. They do this naturally, they do not need to be trained to do it or be tamed. It comes by their personality naturally. On another scale, the Gray Jay is the bird that nests the earliest. It builds a nest in February - in Canada. It builds its nest at this time and is often seen sitting on eggs in February or early March while there are inches of snow surrounding it in the nest. Why do they do this? Well, for one, they trust that spring will come. Other animals seem to wait for spring and then procreate, but the Gray Jays just trust that it will come. They rely on their storage caches of food to bring them through the winter, but again that is also a form of trust. Another great adaptation is their sticky saliva. Gray Jays cache food they find in tree bark by sticking it under bark flaps with their sticky saliva. This is why they live in forests with specific types of trees - because these scaly trees allow them to cache in this fashion. This combined with the cold temperatures in their environment through the winter; you could say the Gray Jay was the first animal to use refrigeration (other than humans). The tree bark is also antibacterial...so that helps. The Gray Jay has the corvid talent at mimicry and making all sorts of vocalizations, but he does them in a relative hush. If he wants to warn his buddies of an oncoming hawk attack, he mimics a hawk at a near whisper. All of its calls are like this, relatively hushed. I think this is to its advantage as a master thief. Stealth is always a good thing.
Gray Jays are omnivores, but for all their reliance on coniferous trees, they do not eat the seeds contained within their cones. They eat berries, mushrooms, insects, spiders, small nestlings, mice, frogs, and carrion. Of course they will also eat treats that humans like as well - such as potato chips, peanuts, beef jerky, etc. They take all these treasures, coat them with stick saliva and hide them in thousands of food caches in the trees. These food caches and their fluffy coat allow the Gray Jay to stay in the same territory year round. In fact, there are rarely any deaths in the winter months. This is mainly due to the Gray Jays supreme planning for its food needs over the winter. In the summer however, there are more deaths due to predation from birds of prey - which is pretty much their only predator. Humans don't pose much of a threat to Gray Jays as our places of living rarely overlap. The Boreal and Sub-Alpine habitats are not places we generally try to live. However, global warming is reducing their habitat as they need the cold to preserve their food over the winter. There are some stories of Gray Jays leading human hunters to animals that they could kill though. This is similar to the symbiosis that other corvids try to form with humans/wolves/etc. They show them the animal to kill and in return are allowed to munch on it once the deed is done.
Adult Gray Jays are monogamous. They live in pairs, working and defending a territory of between 25 and 100 hectares. The pair is often accompanied by a third juvenile who helps them and learns from them. This juvenile, in most cases, is one of their offspring form the previous year, but not always. Sometimes it's a 'foster bird' from a neighboring territory. Usually in February to early March, the pair will build a nest (a new one every year). In their habitat, at the time they build their nest, there is often still a lot of snow on the ground or in the air. This is unusual for a bird to do and makes the Gray Jay unique. Their nest is made of bark strips, twigs, lichens, feathers, etc. They lay 3 or 4 eggs and incubate them for about 20 days. The female sits on the eggs while the male feeds her. The young are fed by their parents and fledge at about 23 days. They can fly quite skillfully by 42 days and can feed themselves. At about 55 days old, a strange thing happens. The previously amicable group of young Gray Jays turn on each other. They fight with the dominant juvenile staying in the territory with its parents while the others are chased off. Its a mystery why they do this. With the breeding and raising of young done so early in the year, the Gray Jays have the rest of the year to cache food for the upcoming winter with ease. The dominant juvenile learns form his parents and uses their territory as a safe place to search for other vacant territories to call his own from. Once reaching adulthood, they will move into their own territory and find a mate of their own. If this mate dies, they will search for a new mate, but they are monogamous in the 'til death do us part' way.
The Gray Jay only exists in North America (although it has close relatives in Tibet and Russia), so its mythology is completely North American. It has been equated with the Algonquin crane manitou 'Wisakedjak' (or Micmac 'Weskejak'), which gave rise to its name 'Whiskey Jack'. Wisakedjak was a trickster figure responsible for a great destroying flood and for creating the world with magic. He was a master thief and loves to play tricks on people. The Algonquin natives so hated his thieving that if they caught a Gray Jay, they would pluck it alive if they could catch it. To the Cree, he was always associated with the Robin, and while still a thief and trickster, he was seen as a psychopomp type of divine figure. As a psychopomp, thief, and trickster, one can easily see the Gray Jay being associated with Hermes of the Greek myths. In fact, if there were a North American rendition of Hermes, I think it would be safe to say that the wings on his helmet and sandals would be Gray Jay wings! The Gray Jay fits squarely into the archetype of chaos.
A Gray Jay totem would be a person that seems as contrasting as the feathers of the bird itself. They are charming and playful, yet incessant planners. They are bold yet quiet. They enjoy tricks and seeing things fall into disarray and chaos, yet plan for a solid future for themselves. They will be the life of any party, but they are not loud and boisterous, they are subtle and charming instead. Think James Bond and you may just have the right type of personality for a Gray Jay totem. Unlike James Bond, however, the Gray Jay totem will be extremely loyal to their chosen mate. They will tend to share tasks in the relationship and tend to want to do things as a team. They won't mind teaching others or sharing the things they own and love, but the primary focus will be on their partners. They will be likely to make friends quickly and easily and be able to entertain them in their own subtle ways. They will love to pull pranks, tell jokes, and likewise embarrass their friends but it's done with such good humour that they are always forgiven for their transgressions. Career wise, the Gray Jay excels at careers where there is extensive planning as their minds are well suited to this. This can be a variety of careers if you think about it including: City Planner, General, Espionage, Investment Planner, Chef, Thief, etc. All that matters is that they have a passion for what they do.
Written by RavenDreamer
Image of Gray Jay from www.roysephotos.com/ GrayJay.html