Birders’ Night: Pinyon Jays in Oregon

Title: Pinyon Jays in Oregon – Life History, Data, and Monitoring Efforts

Presenter: Claudia Funari, Wildlife Biologist for the USFWS, Bend Field Office

This presentation will give information on the life history of pinyon jays in Oregon, review current data on their distribution and habitat use in Central Oregon, and discuss recent and ongoing monitoring efforts, including efforts supported by the ECBA.

The pinyon jay is a blue-gray jay that is an obligate bird of pinyon-juniper and other pine-juniper woodlands. Pinyon jays are highly social and form colonial flocks throughout the year. These tight-knit flocks can be up to a few hundred of individuals. They nest colonially and range widely for food foraging mainly on pine seeds, insects, and juniper berries depending on the season and availability. While their nomadic lifestyle to follow food resources can make their movements unpredictable, they generally have a local home range and will nest in the same general vicinity from year to year. While no pinyon pine species occur within the breeding range of pinyon jay in Oregon, pinyon jays are known to breed in ponderosa pine and juniper woodlands in central Oregon. The pinyon jay has suffered significant long-term population declines rangewide (over 80%) – the steepest declines of any bird in North America (BBS 2023). The pinyon jay is understudied and poorly known in most areas of its range, and Oregon is no exception. Little is known about their populations here and there are no recent published studies on pinyon jays in Oregon. Most of the available information comes from local birders, biologists, and studies from other states (New Mexico and Arizona mainly). Since August 2023, birders and biologists have put in countless hours trying to collect information on these gregarious birds. Due to this effort, we’ve confirmed locations of nesting colonies and multiple colonial flock areas found around Sisters, Redmond, Tumalo, Bend, and Brothers. ECAS has supported this effort though banding efforts and training members on the use of the new citizen science pinyon jay monitoring app from Great Basin Bird Observatory (GBBO). These and other monitoring efforts are giving us a better understanding of populations, habitat use, and life history of this iconic pine-juniper obligate within central Oregon. Join us for Birders Night to learn more about his magnificent bird in Central Oregon.