The grey jay is as Canadian a bird as it comes, writes David M. Bird.
Not so loony: Why the grey jay soared to victory as Canada's would-be national bird
The Royal Canadian Geographical Society recently stunned many
Canadians by choosing the grey jay over the common loon as the
organization’s candidate to become Canada’s national bird.
The announcement was made on Nov. 16, 2016, at the College of Fellows’ Annual Dinner in the Canadian War Museum.
Then, the loon poop hit the fan.
First, let’s dispel with the argument that due democratic process was not adhered to. In January 2015, the RCGS asked Canadians to help them choose a bird species that could best represent our broad nation and its variety of habitats.
Admittedly, the common loon came first place during the voting, while the grey jay came third. But the idea of the poll was simply to encourage debate among Canadians about the need for a national bird and to present a slate of potential candidates to choose from. There was never any intent to merely make it a popularity contest by choosing the bird that won the popular vote. After all, what if the iconic fourth-place Canada goose had won?! Can you imagine the outrage from coast to coast?!
Before extolling the virtues of the winner, the grey jay, you might ask why Canadians even need a national bird.
Well, every state and every province and territory has one. Secondly, many nations around the world do, too. Only two years ago, the United Kingdom selected the robin (not to be confused with our American robin) as its bird. The Americans absolutely revere their national bird, the bald eagle. Not only does it adorn their national postal service logo, trained bald eagles are commonly flown at major social events, such as the Super Bowl. Basically, like our national tree (the maple) and mammal (the beaver), a national bird says something about who we Canadians are.
So why the grey jay, you ask? First and most importantly, this little bird is found in every province and territory in our country and does not exist in any other country in the world, save for some incursion into the U.S., i.e. the Pacific Northwest and some bordering states, including Alaska.
Also, unlike its competitors, the grey jay has not already been claimed as an official bird for any other geographical entity. The common loon, the first-place bird, has been Ontario’s official bird for eons (and Minnesota’s!), the second-place snowy owl is Quebec’s bird, and the black-capped chickadee (fifth place) is the official bird for New Brunswick, Maine and Massachusetts.
Look at it this way: When we selected our Canadian flag on Feb. 15, 1965, we did not elevate the flags of Ontario, Quebec or New Brunswick to national status; we chose something fresh and new, a flag that all Canadians are so proud of today.
As for the character and quality of the grey jay, you could not find a more Canadian bird.
First, as a member of the corvid family (crows, ravens, magpies and jays), it is arguably the smartest bird on the planet. Their brain-to-body ratio is similar to that of dolphins and chimpanzees!
Second, the grey jay is extremely tough and hardy. By not leaving the country in winter, it has adapted itself to not only surviving our harsh Canadian winters but also breeding as well.
This bird can incubate its eggs at -30 C!
Third, grey jays are extremely friendly, readily coming down to perch on open hands and ski poles without any training whatsoever.
Fourth, unlike most birds in the world, grey jays are not promiscuous and the mates do not cheat on one another. The pair remains together year-round, often flying together everywhere and even perching side by side touching one another. So we’ve got “smart”, “hardy”, “friendly” and “loyal.” What greater way to describe the typical Canadian, eh?
It gets better. For 200 years, the grey jay was known as the Canada jay, but in 1957, for reasons far too complicated to get into here, the American Ornithologists Union Checklist Committee decided to rename it the grey jay and added insult to injury by adopting the American spelling.
But perhaps many Canadians best know this bird by its First Nations name, the whiskey jack — nothing to do with the beverage, by the way, but everything to do with an anglicization of a Cree-Ojibway word meaning “mischievous prankster.”
Yes, the bird does have the cheeky, cute and opportunistic habit of pilfering food, but indigenous folks revere the whiskey jack because it is an omen of good fortune and a warning of danger in the forest. In the end, we Canadians can call our bird whatever we like, even the Canada jay. After all, the Americans do refer to their bald eagle as the American eagle, right?
The grey jay is also a safe choice. It is not hunted and not killed as a nuisance species. It is also not endangered and not likely to disappear anytime soon.
I have saved the best for last. The grey jay is a denizen of our boreal forest, which extends from coast to coast, a habitat, incidentally, that is under siege from mineral and forest development. In short, to meet our hopeful national bird, Canadians are simply going to have to go to our ski mountains and into many of our national and provincial parks to hike, camp, and/or ski. And I guarantee you that this little bird will come down to greet you just as it did for millennia welcoming around their campfires the people who defined our nation — the explorers, settlers, prospectors, trappers and aboriginal peoples. And since the grey jay is highly dependent on cold winter temperatures to keep the stored food in its caches from rotting, you could not find a better poster child for climate change!
So, what’s next, you may well ask?
Well, we need the federal government to buy in by announcing the grey jay as our national bird for our 150th birthday party and, regrettably, the RCGS cannot officially lobby them. Thus, the grey jay/Canada jay/whiskey jack/mesangeai du Canada needs your help by sending emails, tweets and Facebook messages to Catherine McKenna, our esteemed minister of Environment Canada and Climate Change and by speaking with your local national members of Parliament.
And think of it this way: Had the common loon been selected, can’t you just hear Donald Trump mouthing the words “Canada, that nation of loonies!”
—
David M. Bird, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Wildlife Biology, McGill University, and Leader of Team Gray Jay
The announcement was made on Nov. 16, 2016, at the College of Fellows’ Annual Dinner in the Canadian War Museum.
Then, the loon poop hit the fan.
First, let’s dispel with the argument that due democratic process was not adhered to. In January 2015, the RCGS asked Canadians to help them choose a bird species that could best represent our broad nation and its variety of habitats.
Admittedly, the common loon came first place during the voting, while the grey jay came third. But the idea of the poll was simply to encourage debate among Canadians about the need for a national bird and to present a slate of potential candidates to choose from. There was never any intent to merely make it a popularity contest by choosing the bird that won the popular vote. After all, what if the iconic fourth-place Canada goose had won?! Can you imagine the outrage from coast to coast?!
Before extolling the virtues of the winner, the grey jay, you might ask why Canadians even need a national bird.
Well, every state and every province and territory has one. Secondly, many nations around the world do, too. Only two years ago, the United Kingdom selected the robin (not to be confused with our American robin) as its bird. The Americans absolutely revere their national bird, the bald eagle. Not only does it adorn their national postal service logo, trained bald eagles are commonly flown at major social events, such as the Super Bowl. Basically, like our national tree (the maple) and mammal (the beaver), a national bird says something about who we Canadians are.
So why the grey jay, you ask? First and most importantly, this little bird is found in every province and territory in our country and does not exist in any other country in the world, save for some incursion into the U.S., i.e. the Pacific Northwest and some bordering states, including Alaska.
Also, unlike its competitors, the grey jay has not already been claimed as an official bird for any other geographical entity. The common loon, the first-place bird, has been Ontario’s official bird for eons (and Minnesota’s!), the second-place snowy owl is Quebec’s bird, and the black-capped chickadee (fifth place) is the official bird for New Brunswick, Maine and Massachusetts.
Look at it this way: When we selected our Canadian flag on Feb. 15, 1965, we did not elevate the flags of Ontario, Quebec or New Brunswick to national status; we chose something fresh and new, a flag that all Canadians are so proud of today.
As for the character and quality of the grey jay, you could not find a more Canadian bird.
First, as a member of the corvid family (crows, ravens, magpies and jays), it is arguably the smartest bird on the planet. Their brain-to-body ratio is similar to that of dolphins and chimpanzees!
Second, the grey jay is extremely tough and hardy. By not leaving the country in winter, it has adapted itself to not only surviving our harsh Canadian winters but also breeding as well.
This bird can incubate its eggs at -30 C!
Third, grey jays are extremely friendly, readily coming down to perch on open hands and ski poles without any training whatsoever.
Fourth, unlike most birds in the world, grey jays are not promiscuous and the mates do not cheat on one another. The pair remains together year-round, often flying together everywhere and even perching side by side touching one another. So we’ve got “smart”, “hardy”, “friendly” and “loyal.” What greater way to describe the typical Canadian, eh?
It gets better. For 200 years, the grey jay was known as the Canada jay, but in 1957, for reasons far too complicated to get into here, the American Ornithologists Union Checklist Committee decided to rename it the grey jay and added insult to injury by adopting the American spelling.
But perhaps many Canadians best know this bird by its First Nations name, the whiskey jack — nothing to do with the beverage, by the way, but everything to do with an anglicization of a Cree-Ojibway word meaning “mischievous prankster.”
Yes, the bird does have the cheeky, cute and opportunistic habit of pilfering food, but indigenous folks revere the whiskey jack because it is an omen of good fortune and a warning of danger in the forest. In the end, we Canadians can call our bird whatever we like, even the Canada jay. After all, the Americans do refer to their bald eagle as the American eagle, right?
The grey jay is also a safe choice. It is not hunted and not killed as a nuisance species. It is also not endangered and not likely to disappear anytime soon.
I have saved the best for last. The grey jay is a denizen of our boreal forest, which extends from coast to coast, a habitat, incidentally, that is under siege from mineral and forest development. In short, to meet our hopeful national bird, Canadians are simply going to have to go to our ski mountains and into many of our national and provincial parks to hike, camp, and/or ski. And I guarantee you that this little bird will come down to greet you just as it did for millennia welcoming around their campfires the people who defined our nation — the explorers, settlers, prospectors, trappers and aboriginal peoples. And since the grey jay is highly dependent on cold winter temperatures to keep the stored food in its caches from rotting, you could not find a better poster child for climate change!
So, what’s next, you may well ask?
Well, we need the federal government to buy in by announcing the grey jay as our national bird for our 150th birthday party and, regrettably, the RCGS cannot officially lobby them. Thus, the grey jay/Canada jay/whiskey jack/mesangeai du Canada needs your help by sending emails, tweets and Facebook messages to Catherine McKenna, our esteemed minister of Environment Canada and Climate Change and by speaking with your local national members of Parliament.
And think of it this way: Had the common loon been selected, can’t you just hear Donald Trump mouthing the words “Canada, that nation of loonies!”
—
David M. Bird, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Wildlife Biology, McGill University, and Leader of Team Gray Jay
Source: http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/not-so-loony-why-the-gray-jay-soared-to-victory-as-canadas-would-be-national-bird
