The Birds

DougPaul said:

I don't know specifically about birds, but the rangers at a number of western national parks advise the visitors not to feed the cute (often begging) ground squirrels because it shortens their life-spans by ~1/3.

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I was in Zion NP back in the spring and they had many signs of that nature. The Rock Squirrels were quite tame and sometimes aggressively sought out your food. Particularly bad at Angel's Landing and the path to the Narrows.

As a Canuck who has spent many (50+) years in the North Country (Taïga and boreal forest), Grey Jays - Canada Jays - Whisky Jacks are a totem here. They will steal everything they can fly off with, but it is extremely bad luck to harm one.

The north country loggers reportedly also referred to them as "goobers"

sierra said:

Having grown up here in the Whites, I just assumed these birds were from the Northeast and Canada. On a climb up MT. Elbert in CO, I sat down just below treeline to snack and drink for the summit push. Low and behold a Grey Jay swooped down and grabbed at my food. It gave me a good laugh and a better concept of their range.

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Camp Bird Mine on the road up to Yankee Boy Basin and the standard ascent route for Mt. Sneffels (a 14er) is so named, it is said, because of the Grey Jays.

these birds are scavengers and will also eat feces.
Peakbagger makes a good point about climate change, not only is the loss of habitat due to schrinking boreal zones an issue thaws and freezing rain in March can have an impact. They lay eggs around the second or third week in March. they can insulate the eggs form the cold but the wet and cold can kill the eggs and the chicks. BTW all of those snacks we gave them that they catched will be used to feed the chicks.

I passed the OP's question on to a relative who is a professional ornithologist (with FL Audubon) who in turn passed it on to an official of NH Audubon.

He stated that he had not seen any studies on whether feeding the Gray Jays is good or bad for them. He also noted that we (the posters in the thread) had brought up the major points. He only does it once or twice a year himself, mostly to entertain visitors or children.

FWIW, I don't generally feed the wildlife.

Doug