Geographic range:
Nearctic, Neotropical: Green jay can be found from south Texas through
Mexico to Honduras and from Venezuela to Bolivia. In Mexico it inhabits
both coast. On the Pacific side from Nayarit south and in the Gulf
from lower Rio Grande south and east to Yucatan peninsula.
Physical characteristics: Cyanocorax
yncas is the only green color jay in Mexico. It reaches around
25 cm. Overall body color is greenish, but underparts and sides of
tail are bright yellow, throat patch black and crown and cheeks violet
blue. There is no sexual dimorphism.
Food habits: Green jays are omnivorous.
Main food items include insects and other arthropods,small vertebrates,
seeds, and fruit. Birds usually forage in family flocks.
Reproduction: The Green Jay is a
monogamous species. Pairs may form at any time during the year, but
during the breeding season, a breeding pair rarely parts. Cup shaped
nests are made of twigs, sticks, grass, leaves and other material
of plant origin. Nests are placed in dense bushes, trees or shrubs.
The nest site is decided upon by both the male and the female. Eggs
are grayish white and oval in shape. An average clutch counts around
4 eggs. Incubation lasts around 17 days and is performed by female
only, while male searches for food to feed her. After the chicks hatch,
both female and male forage to feed them. In South American populations
other members of the flock were observed feeding an incubating female
as well as and young hatchlings.
Behavior: Green jays in southern
USA are non migratory. A typical flock consists of a breeding pair,
current year's nestlings and one year old non -breeding jays from
the last season, who don't function as helpers at the nest, as could
be expected, but instead help defend the territory. These helpers
are chased away from the flock when the nestlings fledge.
In Colombian populations, in South America, however, flock consists
of fixed year -round members, including nest helpers, who forage to
help feeding the nestlings.
Habitat: Throughout its range, this species can be found in
a variety of habitats. In the USA, the jays seem to prefer open woodland,
dense secondary growth, and bushy thickets dominated by mesquite.
Central American populations tend to occupy humid forests, rain forests,
lowlands, plantations, and mountains. In South America the Green Jay
is found in humid montane forest and forest borders, clearings, and
secondary woodland.
Biomes: temperate forest & rainforest,
tropical rainforest, tropical deciduous forest, tropical scrub forest |
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