The Canada Jay is one of the most visible and charismatic resident birds of Denali National Park and Preserve.
The National Park Service recently began studying the ecology of Canada Jays to determine how changes in habitat and food availability might impact the health of jays in the park.
As part of our research, we have banded Canada Jays with unique combinations of small, ...more ↓
The Canada Jay is one of the most visible and charismatic resident birds of Denali National Park and Preserve.
The National Park Service recently began studying the ecology of Canada Jays to determine how changes in habitat and food availability might impact the health of jays in the park.
As part of our research, we have banded Canada Jays with unique combinations of small, plastic color bands. These bands allow us to identify individual jays so we can examine their survival, behavior, and more.
You can help study Denali's Canada Jays by collecting data for our study! Let us know the location, band colors, behavior, and submit photos of Canada Jays you observe in the park.
How to read color bands:
Look at the plastic rings on the feet, and tell us the colors you see for each leg. Start with the top band (the one closest to the body), and then read the bottom (closer to foot) band. Each Canada Jay has one silver-colored, metal band on the bottom of its left leg, which you can report as "S". Check out our visual instructions for band reading on this page or on Facebook.
Where to find color-banded Canada Jays:
You can find color-banded Canada Jays anywhere between Denali's entrance and mile marker 4 on the park road. We frequently see Canada Jays on front country trails, in forested areas, around the Riley Creek campground, near buildings, and around the park road.
How to report your location:
You can use the map to drag and drop a pin on your location. If you're not sure where on the map you saw the Canada Jays, you can report your location in the notes. Report location as accurately as you can, and try to avoid vague place names. For example, reporting "seen on the park road", is not very useful, because the park road is long. Reporting "seen on the park road outside of the Denali Visitor Center" will give us much more accurate location information.
The most accurate way to report location information is to use a GPS or a GPS smartphone app. We suggest the Gaia GPS Hiking app, which you can use to take very accurate GPS waypoints and copy that data onto iNaturalist.
For any questions, or to report observations in another form, email us at denali.canadajayproject@gmail.com or visit the Canada Jay Citizen Science Project on facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/denalicanadajayproject/
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Denali Canada Jay Project
