Tips on making great Canada Jay observations!

Here are a few tips on how to collect the most useful Canada Jay data possible.

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 guide!

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 allows you to take very accurate GPS waypoints from your phone and copy that data onto iNaturalist.

How to report behavior:

We have included an optional "Behavior" field with most of the common behaviors we see in Canada Jays. If you see something not described there, let us know! If the behaviors you see don't match any of the options we've lined out in the "Behaviors" field, tell us what you see the Canada Jays doing in the description of your observation.

Posted on May 8, 2018 12:57 AM by ctgrigsby