Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)

Western Scrub-Jay
Photograph by Sirevil. Some rights reserved. (view image details)

WESTERN SCRUB-JAY FACTS

Description
The Western Scrub-Jay has blue head, wings and tail. The throat is white with narrow blue band separating the throat from gray belly color. The back is gray brown and underside is pale gray. It has a white eyebrow. The bill and legs are dark colored. Juveniles have dull brown heads.

Size
28cm - 30cm

Environment
oak woodland, juniper scrub, pine woodland, gardens, orchards.

Food
insects and other arthropods, small vertebrates, fruit, acorns, seeds.

Breeding
The nest is an open cup made of twigs and roots lined with fiber, built in a shrub or low tree. Lays two to six pale green or gray white eggs with darker green or brown spots.

Range
The Western Scrub-Jay is found in the western United States from southern Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming, to California and east Texas, It is also found in northern and central Mexico.

Classification

Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Corvidae
Genus:	Aphelocoma
Species:	californica
Common Name:	Western Scrub-Jay

Relatives in same Genus
Florida Scrub-Jay (A. coerulescens)
Mexican Jay (A. ultramarina)

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