Alternative names: Plush-capped Jay; Band-tailed Jay; Uracca Jay
Photo by Francisco Paludo
Pilarzinho, Curitiba, PR, Brazil, July 2017
- Cyanocorax chrysops
Identification
32 - 35cm. The most widespread South American jay.
- Stiffened feathers on head and crown create a peculiar plush-like cap
- Black forehead, crown and side of head
- Ultramarine spot over eye and smaller spot below rear eye
- Large cyan-blue malar stripe, rather broad just below eye
- Indigo-blue upperparts, nape white (blue in diesingii)
- Indigo-blue tail with pale white or yellowish tips
- Upper breast and throat sepia
- Rest of underparts variable creamy to whitish
- Yellow eye
- Blackish bill and legs
Sexes similar. Juveniles have a pale bluish-muave nape and facial markings appear only after the first month.
Similar species
Similar to White-naped Jay but ranges only meet marginally.
Distribution
South-central and eastern South America.
Common to abundant in most of its range.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
Four subspecies recognized:
- C. c. diesingii in northern Brazil (Eastern Amazonas and western Para)
- C. c. insperatus in north-central Brazil (western Para)
- C. c. chrysops in Bolivia, southeast Brazil, Paraguay and northeast Argentina
- C. c. tucumanus in northwest Argentina
The described form interpositus from Alagoas, Brazil is usually not recognized.
Forms a species pair with White-naped Jay and has been considered conspecific with it. May also form a superspecies with White-naped Jay and Tufted Jay.
Habitat
Various types of woodlands and low thick scrub. Mostly from the lowlands up to 1500m but recorded at 2800m in Bolivia.
Behaviour
These are noisy birds which can imitate the calls of other birds.
They feed on invertebrates (mainly insects) and fruits. They may also take nestlings of other birds, frogs and eggs. Where available maize is an important food source.
Breeding season from October to December in the southern part of its range. A communal breeder, the previous year's offspring help care for new chicks. The nest is a rounded cup made of twigs. It's placed 4 - 7m above the ground in a densely foliaged tree. Lays 2 - 4 eggs.
A sedentary species.
References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Plush-crested Jay. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 28 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Plush-crested_Jay
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
