The Grey Jay population has dropped by 50 percent in the last 25 years because of global warming, according to U.S. researchers.

The grey jay isn't shy around people. Also known as the Whiskey Jack, or the Gorby, the small grey bird will steal food from camp sites and even from people's hands.

But researchers say the bird's fearlessness isn't protecting it against a new danger: global warming. Thomas Waite, a researcher at Ohio State University, has been studying the dwindling population of Grey Jays since 1983.

"Each year, more and more of the traditional territories we've been monitoring have gone vacant, and they've stayed vacant ever since," he said.

Waite said the birds are facing longer, warmer autumns, and that is having a serious effect on their food supply. Every fall, Grey Jays collect and store food for the winter, but with the delayed onset of winter, that food store can rot.

"It may have less caloric content, and it may be that it's become poisonous to some degree," he said.

Waite is holding out hope that the Grey Jay will adapt to the warmer autumns. He also wouldlike to see governments address the contributing factors to global warming.