From Opus

Nominate race
Photo by Birdingcraft
Santa Elena Reserve (Monteverde), Costa Rica, February 1996

Alternative name: Hooded Jay

Cyanolyca cucullata

[edit] Identification

26 - 31cm.

• Dark cyan-blue plumage
• Black forehead and sides of head, black throat, more extensive in some subspecies
• Pale blue crown, bordered narrow white in mitrata, more extensive in hondurensis
• Dark red eyes
• Black bill and legs

Sexes similar. Juveniles are duller than adults and have light sepia underparts.

[edit] Distribution

Central America: found in the highlands from central Mexico south to Guatemala and Honduras with an isolated population (subspecies cucullata) in Costa Rica and Panama.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

There are 4 subspecies:

• C. c. mitrata:

• Eastern Mexico (San Luis Potosí to north-central Oaxaca)

• C. c. guatemalae:

• Southern Mexico (Chiapas) to central Guatemala

• C. c. hondurensis:

• Western Honduras

• C. c. cucullata:

• Costa Rica and western Panama

A sister-species of Beautiful Jay.

[edit] Habitat

Cloud forests at approximately 1000-2000 meters in elevation; remarkably, the favorite elevation for this bird seems similar in Mexico and Panama.

[edit] Behaviour

Moves around in small flocks, and may join mixed species flocks. Often found high and the pale crown therefore difficult to see.
A sedentary species.

[edit] Diet

Their diet includes invertebrates, berries and small fruits.

[edit] Breeding

Breeding season April to June in Costa Rica. A solitary nester. The nest is a platform made of twigs. It's placed 5 - 7m above the ground in a small tree at the forest edge. Lays 2 eggs.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Costaricalink
3. Howell & Webb, 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198540124
4. Ridgely & Gwynne 1989. Birds of Panama. Princeton Paperbacks. ISBN 0691025126
5. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
6. BF Member observations

[edit] External Links