From Opus

Alternative names: Plain-tipped Brown Jay; Plain-tailed Brown Jay; White-tipped Brown Jay

Photo by Stanley Jones
Vara Blanca, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica

Psilorhinus morio

Cyanocorax morio

[edit] Identification

• Dark brown upperparts
• Pale brown underparts
• Dark brown head
• Thick black bill
• White-tipped tail
• Black legs and feet
  

Juvenile: yellow bill

Geographical variation: Two main groups.
Northern birds: dark brown, with paler underparts.
Southern birds: white-bellies; white tipped outer tailfeathers.

[edit] Distribution

Adult with Juvenile (right)
Photo by Michael W
El Rio RV Park, Chapeño, S Texas, USA, April 2004

From southernmost Texas and eastern Mexico, mostly along the Caribbean coast through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, to western Panama.

[edit] Taxonomy

Has also been placed in genus Cyanocorax.

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

Four subspecies are recognized:

• P. m. palliatus:

• Gulf-Caribbean slope of south-east Texas to south-eastern Mexico (Veracruz)

• P. m. morio:

• South-eastern Mexico (coastal central Veracruz to eastern Tabasco and northern Chiapas)

• P. m. cyanogenys:

• South-eastern Mexico (extreme eastern Tabasco and Campeche) to north-western Panama

• P. m. vociferus:

• Northern Yucatán Peninsula (Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo)

[edit] Habitat

Thickets and woodland near water. Visits garden feeders.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The diet includes insects, invertebrates, lizards, fruit, and nectar.

[edit] Breeding

Both sexes build the nest. The clutch consists of 3-6 eggs which is incubated by the female for 18-20 days.

[edit] Vocalisation

A loud but low pitched pee-ah call.

The Brown Jay has a furcular pouch of the intraclavicular air sac that is most likely used to produced a sound like a hiccup, a structure not found in any other species of Jay.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
2. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links