Most people are familiar with the Steller's jay's bluer cousin, the blue jay. Thankfully for all of the amateur birders out there, these species are easy to tell apart thanks to their coloration. The Steller's jay is named after Georg Wilhelm Steller, a German naturalist who was the first to record this species in 1741. In addition to being black and blue, this bird has a tall crown of feathers atop its head that helps it stand out from other jays. Steller's jays typically tip the scales at 3.7 ounces, measure 11.5 inches from beak to tail and have a wingspan of 19 inches or so. They are common in North Idaho, but they occur throughout the higher-elevation coniferous forests coating the western half of the Americas, from Alaska to Nicaragua.

Conifer and pine-oak forests. Most numerous as a breeder in the mountains and along the northern coast in forests of pine, spruce, and fir; also lives in pine-oak forest, and locally in riverside groves of oaks and other deciduous trees. Especially when not nesting, will range into other woodland types, orchards, and well-wooded suburbs. A common bird of western forests. Steller's Jay is most numerous in dense coniferous woods of the mountains and the northwest coast, where its dark colors blend in well in the shadows. Except when nesting it lives in flocks, and the birds will often fly across a clearing one at a time, in single file, giving their low shook-shook calls as they swoop up to perch in a tall pine.

Forages mostly high in trees but also low or on ground. Opens hard seeds and acorns by pounding on them with bill. 4, sometimes 3-5, rarely 2-6. Pale blue-green, finely spotted with brown or olive. Incubation is mostly or entirely by female, about 16-18 days. Young: Both parents bring food for nestlings. Age of young at first flight not well known, about 3 weeks.

Vocal with a diverse array of squacks, rattles, harsh screams. Call: a piercing sheck sheck sheck and a descending harsh shhhhhkk. The Steller's jay frequently mimics other species, particularly raptors, and also incorporates calls of squirrels and household animals, such as dogs and chickens.

Both parents bring food for nestlings. Age of young at first flight not well known, about 3 weeks. Omnivorous. Diet is about two-thirds vegetable and one-third animal matter. Feeds heavily on pine seeds, acorns, and other nuts and seeds, especially during fall and winter; also eats many berries and wild fruits, sometimes cultivated fruit. Especially in summer, eats many insects, including beetles, wasps, and wild bees. Also eats spiders, birds' eggs, table scraps, sometimes small rodents or lizards.

In courtship, male feeds female. Adults are quiet and secretive while nesting, but become noisy and aggressive if nest is threatened. Nest site is in tree, usually coniferous; sometimes in deciduous tree or shrub. Height varies, usually 10-30' above the ground, sometimes lower or much higher. Nest is a bulky ragged cup of twigs, weeds, moss, dry leaves, cemented together with mud and lined with fine grass, rootlets, and pine needles. Bits of paper often added to nest.