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Cyanocorax yncas galeatus
Photo by Robert Scanlon
La Suiza Nature Reserve near Pereira, Colombia, May 2004

Cyanocorax yncas

[edit] Identification

25 - 27cm. A distinctive jay with pronounced racial variation:

• Green tail with yellow outer feathers and yellow under-tail coverts.
• Cheeks, throat and upper breast are black.
• Forcrown and moustache-streaks are blue. Hindcrown bluish or white
• Whitish forehead and eyebrow streak.
• Eyes yellow or dark brown.
• Bill and legs black.

Juveniles duller black areas, blues more greenish, and under parts paler.

[edit] Distribution

Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, S. Texas USA, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia.

Cyanocorax yncas luxuosus
Photo by assayer
Laguna Atascosa NWR, Texas, November 2004

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• C. y. speciosus:

• Pacific slope of western Mexico (Nayarit and Jalisco)

• C. y. vividus:

• Pacific slope of southern Mexico (Colima) to western Guatemala

• C. y. luxuosus:

• Southern Texas (Rio Grande Valley) to eastern Mexico (Puebla and Veracruz)

• C. y. centralis:

• South-eastern Mexico (Tabasco) to Belize, eastern Guatemala and Honduras

• C. y. maya:

• South-eastern Mexico (Yucatán Peninsula) and extreme southern Quintana Roo

• C. y. cozumelae :

• Cozumel Island

• C. y. galeatus:

• Subtropical central Colombia (west of Eastern Andes)

• C. y. cyanodorsalis:

• Eastern Andes of Colombia and north-western Venezuela

• C. y. andicolus:

• Mountains of northern Venezuela

• C. y. guatimalensis:

• Coastal cordillera of northern Venezuela

• C. y. yncas:

• Subtropical south-western Colombia to Ecuador, Peru and central Bolivia

• C. y. longirostris:

• Northern Peru (arid upper Marañón Valley)

[edit] Habitat

Sub-tropical thorn scrub and riparian woodland

[edit] Behaviour

Seen in parties outside breeding season.

[edit] Diet

Acorns, seeds Texas Palmetto (ebony in winter), grasshoppers, crickets and other insects.

[edit] Breeding

Nest (north range April and May) in dense thickets. A thorny twig platform, rootlet, vine, moss and grass lining - eggs can be seen through nest. Two broods per season.
Eggs three to five greyish-white, greenish-white or buff background. Covered in brown, grey and lavender spots - concentrated around larger end.

[edit] Vocalisation

Call high pitched and harsh - commonly one long then three short.

[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.

• List of references

[edit] External Links