West · Pacific Flyway
Jays in Arizona
Jays in Arizona come down to 5 species with regular eBird records, led by the Mexican Jay. Together they account for 262,614 of the 20 million eBird records from 2020–2024 — 1.3% of everything reported in the state.
The full list: Mexican Jay, Steller's Jay, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay, Pinyon Jay and Canada Jay. Jays are the loud, intelligent, boldly colored members of the crow family. The Blue Jay dominates the East; the West has its own set — scrub-jays, Steller's Jay, Pinyon Jay, and the Canada Jay of the high forests — and the two sides overlap only along the Rockies.
Jays in Arizona: every species, most-reported first
Every jay with at least 25 eBird records in the state from 2020–2024, most-reported first. The status label is derived from each species’ own monthly share of all state records.
1. Mexican Jay (Aphelocoma wollweberi) — 128,671 records, 0.6% of the state’s eBird total; a year-round resident, reported in every month.
2. Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) — 69,322 records, 0.3% of the state’s eBird total; a year-round resident, reported in every month.
3. Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma woodhouseii) — 58,311 records, 0.3% of the state’s eBird total; a year-round resident, reported in every month.
4. Pinyon Jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) — 6,009 records, 0.03% of the state’s eBird total; a passage migrant, reported mainly in May, June, September and October with a peak in September.
5. Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) — 301 records, 0.00% of the state’s eBird total; a summer visitor, present mainly from June to September and peaking in September.
When to see jays in Arizona
Adding up every species’ share of state eBird records month by month, jays are most prominent in August, June and July and least in January and February. 3 of the 5 species are year-round — Mexican Jay, Steller's Jay and Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay — so there is no month without them.
Summer visitors. Canada Jay arrives around June and is mostly gone after September (peak September).
Passage migrants. Pinyon Jay is reported mainly in May, June, September and October.
Attracting jays to Arizona backyards
Peanuts in the shell are the classic jay food; whole corn and sunflower work too. Jays cache what they cannot eat, so a platform feeder will empty faster than you expect.
In Arizona the jay most likely to turn up is the Mexican Jay, a year-round resident, followed by the Steller's Jay.
Jays in Arizona: FAQ
How many species of jays are there in Arizona?
5 species of jays have regular eBird records in Arizona (at least 25 records in 2020–2024): Mexican Jay, Steller's Jay, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay, Pinyon Jay and Canada Jay.
What is the most common jay in Arizona?
The Mexican Jay, with 128,671 eBird records in 2020–2024, followed by the Steller's Jay with 69,322. It is a year-round resident, reported in every month.
When is the best time to see jays in Arizona?
August, June and July, when the combined share of Arizona eBird records belonging to jays is highest. Summer visitors such as the Canada Jay arrive around June.
More birds in Arizona
Jays in other states
Jays in Arizona: sources
Every number on this page comes from the EOD – eBird Observation Dataset published by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and distributed through GBIF under a CC BY 4.0 license: Arizona records from 2020–2024, retrieved 2026-09-18. Species are drawn from the families Corvidae; only species with at least 25 records are listed, and a species is called a year-round resident when its monthly share of state records stays above 30% of its own peak in ten or more months. “Records” are individual eBird observations, so they reflect how often birders report a species, not a population count.