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Green Jay

Cyanocorax yncasOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Crows and Jays (Corvidae)

Green Jay Portrait
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General

Green Jay: Medium-sized, tropical jay with green back, yellow underparts, and distinct black bib. Head and nape are pale blue and has a short crest. Tail is long, blue-green, and yellow-edged. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Green Jay: Resident from south Texas (Rio Grande Valley) south to the American tropics. Preferred habitats include open woodlands, dense secondary growth, and bushy thickets dominated by mesquite.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"shink-shink-shink"

Interesting Facts

 Green Jays have been observed using sticks as tools to extract insects from tree bark.

 The Central American and South American populations are separated by 900 miles. The two groups differ in color, calls, and habitat use, and may be different species.

 Its specific name, yncas, is an alternate form of "Inca," for the first descriptions of this species were based on birds taken in Peru.

 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 Green 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 Cyanocorax yncas
Length10.5 Inches
Wingspan15 Inches

Green Jay

Green Jay: Medium, tropical jay with green back, yellow underparts, and distinct black bib. Head and nape are pale blue and has a short crest. Tail is long, blue-green, and yellow-edged. Bill, legs and feet are black. Omnivorous. Direct flight with steady bouyant wing beats. Glides between perches.

● Song: "shink-shink-shink"

● Foraging & Feeding: Green Jay: Diet consists of arthropods, vertebrates, seeds, and fruits. Forages in family flocks, moving from the lower portion of a tree in a spiral fashion up the branches; occasionally hovers to inspect slender branches and clumps of moss. When foraging on the ground, it turns over dry leaves and twigs by sweeping its bill from side to side.

● Breeding & nesting: Green Jay: Three to five brown and purple spotted, gray, green or buff eggs are laid in a loosely made, thorny stick nest lined with rootlets or grass, and built in a bush or small tree. Incubation ranges from 17 to 18 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Green Jay: None in range.

Flight Pattern

Direct flight with buoyant steady wing beats.
Green Jay Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Green Jay: Resident from south Texas (Rio Grande Valley) south to the American tropics. Preferred habitats include open woodlands, dense secondary growth, and bushy thickets dominated by mesquite.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationCommon in restricted range
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight2.7 Ounces