Where Do Blue Jays Live?

Series Summary

Animals are an important part of every ecosystem and environment. They are set apart from other living things by their multicellular bodies, the ability to digest food in an internal chamber and their motility. Nearly all animals undergo some form of sexual reproduction and require energy from sunlight. Different animals have evolved different characteristics for the various ecosystems. In this free video series on animal habitats, a science teacher explains where different animals live. Find out where blue jays live, where rabbits live and where great horned owls live. Learn about the living environment of koalas, black bears and mallard ducks. Even get information on the habitats of tigers, pelicans and manatees.

Video Transcript

"There's a big noisy bird at your feeder, it seems to be chasing all the other birds away. It won't let anybody else get anywhere near that bird food. It's probably a Blue Jay. I'm Janice Creneti. I've been teaching environmental and animal science for about twenty years and I'm here to answer the question, "Where do Blue Jays live"? Now when we talk about where an animal lives there's two different things that we would talk about. First would be their habitat. The habitat is the type of environment they live in. Is it a desert? Is it a forest? Well, Blue Jays are predominantly forest willing creatures. They like trees. However, in this day and age where much of the United States in particular has been developed, Blue Jays are what we call a fringe species, that means they're very good at living in close proximity with humans. So you're going to find them around those bird feeders. You'll certainly also find them in parks and gardens that are nearby. They can survive in a lot of different places. Blue Jays like I said are one of the largest songbirds and they're very aggressive and very territorial. They will chase other birds out of their territory. The other word that we use when we talk about where an animal lives is range, that means how far does it cover. Well, Blue Jays can be found pretty much all over North America. Again, as long as there's a little bit of tree cover and there's adequate food source which can be supplied by any number of bird feeders, as well as plants that have berries or plants that give seeds, Blue Jays will find plenty to eat. And because they're aggressive, they'll chase everybody else away from it as well. I'm Janice Creneti and this is, "Where do Blue Jays live"?"