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Island Scrub-Jay

Aphelocoma insularisOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Crows and Jays (Corvidae)
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Family Jays and Magpies (Corvidae)_blue
Species Aphelocoma insularis
Length11 - 13 Inches
Wingspan16 Inches

Island Scrub-Jay

Island Scrub-Jay: Medium-sized, crestless jay with gray-brown back and blue wings. Upper breast, throat, and chin are white with streaks. Head is blue with gray mask and narrow white eyebrow. Tail and undertail coverts are blue. Forages on ground. Flies with steady bouyant wing beats.

● Song: "quay-quay-quay", "quay-fee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Island Scrub-Jay: Eats rodents, crustaceans, mollusks, small birds, insects, and nestlings and eggs of other birds. Also gathers nuts and stores them in pits, covering them with vegetation; forages on the ground and in trees and bushes.

● Breeding & nesting: Island Scrub-Jay: Two to seven pale blue-green eggs marked with light olive and brown are laid in a nest made of twigs, rootlets, and grass, and built from 2 to 12 feet above the ground in a bush or low in a tree. Incubation ranges from 16 to 19 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Island Scrub-Jay: None in range.

Flight Pattern

Flies with steady buoyant wing beats. Glides between perches within trees, between trees, and from tree to ground.
Island Scrub-Jay Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Island Scrub-Jay: Restricted to Santa Cruz Island, about 20 miles off the coast of California.
BreedingMonogamous, Semicolonial
PopulationFairly common
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight4.1 - 4.4 Ounces