PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 28, 2026
We don’t typically think of blue jays as migrating away from Maine in the summer, since they can be seen year-round in the state, but those individuals you see in your backyards and local parks in the winter may be different from the ones that are there in the summer. While most passerines (perching birds) migrate at night, blue jays are primarily diurnal migrants (active in the daytime), and you can often catch them in the act. We see small groups of blue jays actively migrating in the mornings during the “Warbler Walks” I lead at Evergreen Cemetery each May. You can typically tell migrating jays by: their altitude, above the treetops up to 500 feet (think of the Washington Monument for scale); their northward orientation, hopefully; and group size, as they’ll be in groups of 5-10 or larger, rather than singly or in pairs. ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox