Alternative name: Hartlaub's Jay
- Cyanocorax melanocyaneus
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.
Similar species
San Blas Jay is very similar to subspecies chavezi but ranges don't overlap.
Distribution
Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.
Restricted-range species but not uncommon.
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.
Habitat
Mixed woodland, coffee plantations, pine/oak forest, and cloud forest habitats. Occurs from 1000m up to 2450m.
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.
References
- 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.
- 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
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Bushy-crested Jay. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 1 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Bushy-crested_Jay
