The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) considers the Canada jay a least-concern species, but populations in southern ranges may be affected adversely by global warming.

[2] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.

[3] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.

[8] The boreal clade is genetically diverse, suggesting that Canada jays retreated to multiple areas of milder climate during previous ice ages and recolonized the region in warmer times.

[9] This change was also made in the online list of world birds maintained on behalf of the International Ornithologists' Union by Frank Gill and David Donsker.

Nor do Canada jays live in lower elevations of coastal Alaska or British Columbia dominated by Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis).

The key habitat requirements may be sufficiently cold temperatures to ensure successful storage of perishable food and tree bark with sufficiently pliable scales arranged in a shingle-like configuration that allows Canada jays to wedge food items easily up into dry, concealed storage locations.

The benefits of juveniles participating in subsequent brood care may include "lightening the load" for the breeding pair, which may possibly increase longevity, reducing the probability of starvation of nestlings, and detecting and mobbing predators near the nest.

[26] Breeding Canada jays build nests and lay eggs in March or even February, when snow is deep in the boreal forest.

[22] Insulation is provided by cocoons of the forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria) filling the interstitial spaces of the nest, and feathers used to line the cup.

[25] Nestling growth is most rapid from the fourth through the tenth day following hatching, during which time the female begins to participate in foraging.

[23][25] Young Canada jays leave the nest between 22 and 24 days after hatching, after which the third bird begins to participate in foraging and feeding.

[30] The dominant bird remains with its parents until the following season, while its siblings leave the natal territory to join an unrelated pair who failed to breed.

Researchers also found a Canada jay nest containing a brooding female, three hatchlings, and three warm, engorged winter deer ticks.

[33][34][35] Evidence from studies in the Pacific Northwest suggest a moderate increase in nest predation in logged plots adjacent to mature conifer forest, which is the Canada jay's preferred habitat.

[35] Canada jays are suspected but not proven to prey on nests of the threatened marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) in coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest.

[31] Two Canada jays were seen eating slime mold (Fuligo septica) near Kennedy Hot Springs in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, Washington.

[23] The Canada jay is a "scatterhoarder", caching thousands of food items during the summer for use the following winter,[43] and enabling the species to remain in boreal and subalpine forests year round.

[25] When exploiting distant food sources found in clearings, Canada jays were observed temporarily concentrating their caches in an arboreal site along the edge of a black spruce forest in interior Alaska.

A subsequent recaching stage occurred, and food items were transferred to widely scattered sites to reduce theft.

To prevent theft, they also tend to carry valuable food items further from the source when caching in the company of one or more Canada jays.

[47] In southern portions of the Canada jay's range, food is not cached during summer because of the chance of spoilage and the reduced need for winter stores.

[50] Canada jay remains have been recovered from the lairs of fisher (Pekania pennanti) and American marten (Martes americana).

[25] Canada jays alert each other to threats by whistling alarm notes, screaming, chattering, or imitating and/or mobbing predators.

One is "whisky jack",[21] a variation on the name of Wisakedjak, a benevolent trickster and cultural hero in Cree, Algonquin, and Menominee mythologies.

Niigaanwewidam Sinclair, an associate professor and acting head of the department of native studies at the University of Manitoba, explained why the mischievous yet wise grey jay is important to the Anishinaabe people.

[25] This behaviour has inspired a number of nicknames for the Canada jay, including "lumberjack", "meat-bird", "venison-hawk", "moose-bird", and "gorby",[21][58] the last two popular in the northeastern United States.

The origin of "gorby", also spelt "gorbey", is unclear but possibly derived from gorb, which in Scottish Gaelic or Irish means "glutton" or "greedy (animal)" or in Scots or northern English "fledgling bird".

[65] Canada jays are classified as least concern (LC) according to the IUCN Red List,[1] having stable populations over a very large area of boreal and subalpine habitats only lightly occupied by humans.

[66] Such warm temperatures may trigger spoilage of the perishable food items stored by Canada jays upon which success of late winter nesting partly depends.