Blue jays live throughout eastern North America from Manitoba all the way to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. Although not usually considered to be a migratory species, some jays do migrate in winter, with northern birds replacing their relatives that summer further south. Blue jays are omnivorous, meaning they eat everything. About 75 percent of their diet is vegetable matter. This choice of diet is seasonal, as blue jays prefer insects, salamanders, tree frogs and even mice, according to some sources, during warm weather.
Blue jays are aggressive, curious and large when compared to most of the other perching birds.
Their cousins the ravens are the largest of the perching birds. If you've ever had a pair of jays nest near your house, you may have been attacked and pecked if you came too close to their nest. Young jays commonly collect brightly colored objects like bottle caps and pieces of aluminum foil and carry them about for awhile. Sometimes they try to peck open such objects, or they will use them as platforms and simply sit atop them until they get bored. As noisy and aggressive as they can be, blue jays are very secretive during the nesting season.