Stellers Jay (1 Viewer)

Is there a way to tell the difference between a male and female stellers jay?

I hope you can if you happen to be a Stellar's Jay!

I do not think we humans can tell with only casual observation. With a bird in the hand one might be able to tell the difference by looking for a brood patch, checking the bird's reproductive apparatus, etc.

Nope. Steller's Jays aren't sexually dimorphic.

Larry Lade said:

I hope you can if you happen to be a Stellar's Jay!

I do not think we humans can tell with only casual observation. With a bird in the hand one might be able to tell the difference by looking for a brood patch, checking the bird's reproductive apparatus, etc.

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I think you'd only be able to tell this way (in the hand) in the breeding season.
But correct me if im wrong.

Regards,
Rob

The female bird has a "brooding patch" in most of the songbirds found in the US. This is an area of the belly which is devoid of feathers and has a generous supply of blood vessels. This enables the eggs laid by the female bird to be incubated more efficiently. This brood patch is only present during the nesting season. Thereafter, the belly of the female is again feathered when the bird goes through a moult cycle.

So generally outside of the nesting season the sexes of the Stellar's Jay cannot be differentiated. This would also be true of the Blue Jay of the eastern US.