O Canada jay!

LARGELY UNHERALDED UNTIL CANADIAN GEOGRAPHIC’S NATIONAL BIRD PROJECT WAS HELD, THE RENAMED CANADA JAY — FORMERLY GRAY JAY — HAS BECOME IN MANY MINDS THE COUNTRY’S NATIONAL BIRD

- JULIA ZARANKIN

The first time I hand-fed a Canada jay, I was nervous. I’d read about how the notoriously bold bird would make a beeline toward any outstretched hand with food on it, determined to partake of whatever was on offer. As I stood on a snowy path in Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park, I was gripped with performance anxiety. Would the Canada jay like me? Would it be offended by the Eurasian bullfinches embroidered on my mittens?

And yet I was eager to meet a bird so memorable that it boasts at least 30 different names, each conjuring a distinct aspect of its personality, from the familiar “whisky jack” — an anglicized version of the Cree wîskicahk — to the colourful “camp robber” to the folkloric “gorbey” — derived from the Scottish word for glutton. There’s also the carnivorous-sounding “moose bird,” the frankly unsavoury “grease bird” and the potentially aggressive “venison hawk.”

Out of nowhere, a large and fluffy charcoal-backed bird swooped down, landed on my mitt and began to pick through the trail mix buffet. With its long tail, dark hood and bright white forehead patch, it resembled a cute, if overgrown, chickadee. Before digging into the dried cranberries, the jay tilted its head and sized me up with inquisitive black eyes. I held my breath as we stared at one another, but the Canada jay didn’t flinch. Unexpectedly tame around people, it regarded my mitt as its turf — and it knew exactly what it wanted.