- Calocitta formosa
Identification
Bebedero Road near Cañas, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica, 1 July 2023
43 - 56cm (17-22 in). A distinctive jay.
- Long blue tail with white tips
- Upperparts and wings blue to blue-grey
- Small black breast band contrasting with white underparts and white throat
- Bill and feet black
Sexes similar but females with shorter tail.
Juveniles have an even shorter tail and whiter crowns.
Variations
- Slightly recurved erectile forecrown, blackish in nominate, black-and-white in azurea and pompata
- Pompata and azurea with whitish face, formosa with more black
Distribution
Centra and South America: found from central Mexico to Costa Rica. In Costa Rica common resident of North Pacific slope, South to near San Mateo and Orotina, occasionally to Carara.
Taxonomy
Black-throated Magpie-Jay has, in the past, been considered a fourth subspecies but is now usually accepted as full species.
Subspecies
Three subspecies are recognized[1]:
- C. f. formosa:
- Coastal southern Mexico (Colima, Michoacán and Puebla to Oaxaca)
- C. f. azurea:
- Pacific slope of south-eastern Mexico (Chiapas) and Guatemala
- C. f. pompata:
- Arid interior of southern Mexico (Oaxaca) to north-western Costa Rica
Habitat
Thorny scrub, savanna trees, groves near houses, deciduous and gallery forest.
Behaviour
Travels in noisy, straggling flocks of 5-10 through thorny scrub, savanna trees, groves near houses, deciduous and gallery forest.
Diet
Eats many fruits, including cultivated varieties and maize; takes eggs and nestlings of other birds, sips nectar from large blossoms of balsa, also eats small frogs and lizards and other insects.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- 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. (2025) White-throated Magpie-Jay. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 26 April 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/White-throated_Magpie-Jay
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
