Mexican Jay

Mexican Jay, breeding adult (Def. Basic) ; Portal, AZ; June

About the photographs

About the map

Play sound from this species

Mexican Jay, 3rd year; Portal, AZ; June

Menu

1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A bird of the Mexican mountains, the Mexican Jay lives in the oak woodlands of western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. It lives in social groups that may include multiple breeding pairs, and group members may feed young at multiple nests within the group territory.

Description

• Large songbird.
• Blue head, wings, and tail.
• Grayish blue back.
• Dingy white underparts.
• Long tail.

• Size: 29 cm (11 in)
• Weight: 120-135 g (4.24-4.77 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike.

Sound

Call loud, harsh, and upwardly inflected, "weet, weet."

Conservation Status

Populations restricted, but appear stable.

Other Names

Geai du Mexique (French)
Grajo Azul, Charra Azulosa, Urraca Azulejo, Parajo Azul, Ruín (Spanish)
Gray-breasted Jay (English)

Cool Facts

• In most populations of the Mexican Jay, young jays have large areas of white or flesh color on the basal half of the bill. It can take more than two years for the bill to turn entirely dark. These light areas on the bill may be asymmetrical and can be used by observers to identify individual jays.
• Mexican Jay groups may number from 5 to 25 individuals, and may contain several active nests within one territory. Only the socially paired group members engage in nest-building, incubation, and brooding. All group members do virtually everything else, including alarm calling, mobbing, and feeding the young. Some jays feed at several nests within the territory, others feed at only one, and still others do not feed any young at all.

• Genetic studies have shown that parentage within a Mexican Jay group is complicated, with most nests containing young sired by different males. Most of the extra-pair young were fathered by males within the group that did not help in nest building and did not appear to be paired.

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

Sources used to construct this page:

1. Brown, J. M. 1994. Mexican Jay (Aphelocoma ultramarina). In The Birds of North America, No. 118 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists? Union.
2. Jones, Z. F., and C. E. Bock. 2003. Relationships between Mexican Jays (Aphelocoma ultramarina) and Northern Flickers (Colaptes auratus) in an Arizona oak savanna. Auk 120: 429-432.
3. Li, S.-H., and J. L. Brown. 2000. High frequency of extrapair fertilization in a plural breeding bird, the Mexican jay, revealed by DNA microsatellites. Animal Behaviour 60: 867-877.