Dave,

From the Birds of North America Online:
Mouth-lining of chicks bright red, with thick, pale yellow fleshy tissue around gape; bill pale (McMannama 1950). Bill darkens to black before or with onset of Prebasic I molt (Goodwin 1976); mouth-lining fades to flesh pink about 2 wk after fledging (McMannama 1950).
Greene, Erick, William Davison and Vincent R. Muehter. 1998. Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/343
doi:10.2173/bna.343

Martin Muller, Seattle
martinmuller at msn.com