The Steller’s Jay is a familiar resident of montane forests throughout western North America from Alaska through western Canada to Central America. In California, habitats vary from oak woodlands to Douglas fir and redwood forest, mixed conifer forest, yellow pine forest, and pinyon woodland. C. s. frontalis is the primary subspecies breeding throughout California, with C. s. carbonacea restricted to coastal central California from the San Francisco Bay south to Monterey County.
WHY SPECIES WAS SELECTED
The Steller’s Jay is characteristic of many wooded habitats across most ecoregions in California except for deserts and the central valley. Exploring patterns of genomic diversity in this species will inform patterns of local adaptation, hotspots of genetic diversity, and the distinctiveness of the California endemic subspecies C. s. carbonacea.
