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Mexican Jay

Aphelocoma ultramarinaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Crows and Jays (Corvidae)

Mexican Jay Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Mexican Jay: Large, crestless jay with blue-gray back, blue head, wings, rump and tail, and pale gray underparts. Bill is dark. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is grayer and has dark-tipped yellow bill.

Range and Habitat

Mexican Jay: Ranges from the north in central Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and west-central Texas through the eastern central mountain chain south to Puebla, Guerrero, and central Veracruz, and west to Jalisco and Colima. Preferred habitats include pine, oak, and juniper woodlands.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"wait-wait-wait", "coo"

Interesting Facts

 Mexican Jays live in groups that number from 5 to 25 individuals, and may contain several active nests within one territory.

 It may live up to 20 years, often in the company of its offspring, parents, siblings, and other relatives on the territory where it was hatched or on an adjacent one."

 In winter they are often followed by Northern Flickers. The flickers pay attention to their alarm calls and are protected from predators by the vigilance of the jays.

 A group of jays has many collective nouns, including a "band", "cast", "party", and "scold" of jays.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Mexican Jay
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Jays and Magpies (Corvidae)_blue
Species Aphelocoma ultramarina
Length11 - 13 Inches
Wingspan15 Inches

Mexican Jay

Mexican Jay: Large, crestless jay, blue-gray back, blue head, wings, rump, tail, and pale gray underparts. Bill, legs, feet are black. Feeds primarily on acorns, also eats insects, fruit, carrion and eggs and young of other birds. Slow steady bouyant wing beats. Glides between perches.

● Song: "wait-wait-wait", "coo"

● Foraging & Feeding: Mexican Jay: Acorns are a staple, but it also eats fruits, insects, carrion, and eggs and young birds. Forages on the ground and in trees; caches acorns and other nuts; holds food under its feet to peck it open.

● Breeding & nesting: Mexican Jay: Four to seven pale green eggs with green markings are laid in a nest made of twigs with an inner layer of rootlets, lined with fine grass, hair, twigs and roots, and built from 6 to 30 feet above the ground on a horizontal branch or crotch of an oak or conifer. Incubation ranges from 16 to 18 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Mexican Jay: Western Scrub-Jay has gray-brown back, blue necklace across the breast, and white eyebrow. Pinyon Jay has a short tail, blue breast, and long, pointed bill.

Flight Pattern

Slow steady buoyant wing beats. Glides between perches within trees, between trees and from trees to ground.
Mexican Jay Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Mexican Jay: Ranges from the north in central Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and west-central Texas through the eastern central mountain chain south to Puebla, Guerrero, and central Veracruz, and west to Jalisco and Colima. Preferred habitats include pine, oak, and juniper woodlands.
BreedingMonogamous, Cooperative, Gregarious.
PopulationFairly common to common
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight4.3 Ounces