By making feints, the jay sometimes causes other birds to leave or drop their catch. Berries in season and needles and buds of firs are also eaten. During the cold season the jay develops a special fondness for meat and fat. It may kill, carry away and eat a sick or crippled mouse or shrew, stranded on top of the snow. Belonging to the crow family, the jay is a scavenger and feeds on scraps found at clumps and campsites.
Shiny things attract it and are carried away or dropped when found uneatable.
The gray jay stores much of its food. Holes pecked by woodpeckers have been found crammed with bread and other foods. The hollow at the top of a broken-off stump is another favorite hoarding place. Mouthfuls of food it does not want to eat at once are turned over until well coated with saliva. These sticky packages the jay then stores on ledges, in crevices or among the needles of evergreens, where they remain well preserved.