From Opus

subspecies melanocyaneus
Photo by Oregonian
Guatemala City, Guatemala, May 2006

Alternative name: Hartlaub's Jay

Cyanocorax melanocyaneus

[edit] Identification

28 - 33cm.

• Appears bulky-headed when crown feathers are errected
• Black hood extending to upper mantle and breast
• Cerulean blue rest of upperparts including wing and tail
• Indigo to duller cerulean rest of underparts, black in chavezi
• Bright yellow eye
• Black bill, blackish legs

Sexes similar. Juveniles are fuscous brown with blue wings and tail. They also have a dark eye and a yellowish-horn bill.

[edit] Similar species

San Blas Jay is very similar to subspecies chavezi but ranges don't overlap.

[edit] Distribution

Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.
Restricted-range species but not uncommon.

[edit] Taxonomy

There are 2 subspecies:

• C. m. melanocyaneus in Guatemala and south El Salvador
• C. m. chavezi in Honduras and northwest Nicaragua

Formerly placed in genus Cissilopha.

[edit] Habitat

Mixed woodland, coffee plantations, pine/oak forest, and cloud forest habitats. Occurs from 1000m up to 2450m.

[edit] Behaviour

Feeds on insects, seeds and fruits.
Usually foraging in flocks.
Breeding recorded from April to June. A communal breeder, a pair has several helpers. The simple nest is made of sticks and twigs and placed 1,5 to 6m above the ground in a coffee tree. Lays 3 - 4 eggs.
A sedentary species.

[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. 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

• List of references

[edit] External Links