Canada Jays – Paradise Meadows

Canada Jays occur in three recognizable forms or “morphotypes”. Since 2016, we have monitored a population of over 100 individually marked Canada jays of the Pacific morphotype in the Paradise Meadows area of Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. While the continent-spanning boreal morphotype of the Canada jay typically lives in pairs, sometimes accompanied by a single non-breeding yearling from the most recent breeding season, the Pacific morphotype jays at Paradise Meadows live in large groups sometimes numbering up to 13 individuals. Often, these groups contain two, or even three, nesting pairs all sharing the same territory and raising young together. These groups may include both immigrants and retained offspring from multiple breeding pairs and are structured by complex social dominance hierarchies. Canada jays rely on caches of perishable food items to survive the winter and to fuel late-winter nesting, and populations along the southern and low-elevation edges of their range are currently experiencing declines linked to cache spoilage linked to climate change. This creates an opportunity to investigate how social dominance and plural breeding operate under increasing climatic stress.

We census the Paradise Meadows population in March (before nesting), in June (after fledglings appear), and fall in more than 20 territories spanning approximately 500 hectares of old-growth subalpine forest under permit from BC Parks. Resident birds are banded with unique colour combinations, allowing us to identify individuals and collect data on seasonal survival, dispersal, reproduction, and social behaviour. We also collect blood samples to obtain genetic information on group composition and to assess potential fitness consequences of social structure.

This research exists on the Traditional Territory of the K’ómoks First Nation. We are building working relationships with the K’ómoks Guardian Program to foster community engagement, collaboration, and reconciliation.

Contact Dan Strickland ([email protected]) or Andie Siemens ([email protected]) for more details on the study.

*scroll down past researchers and annual reports for photos of our research in Paradise Meadows.

Researchers

Dr Ryan Norris (PI, University of Guelph)
Dr David Green (PI, Simon Fraser University)
Dan Strickland (former Chief Park Naturalist, Algonquin Provincial Park)
Andie Siemens (PhD candidate, Simon Fraser University)
Research Assistants:
- Halina van de Ligt (Summer 2025)
- Lianna Dall’ Antonia (Winter 2025)
- Zoe Strothkamp (Summer 2024)
- Elise Brinkman (Summer 2026)