Mexican Jay

The Mexican Jay is a large, unmarked jay of the mountain oak and pine-oak woodlands of the American Southwest and Mexico. It shows a soft blue head, wings, and tail contrasting with a pale gray back and underparts, lacking the crest, bold face pattern, or streaking seen in many other jays. Formerly lumped with the Transvolcanic Jay of central Mexico under the name "Gray-breasted Jay," it was split into two species in 2011.

Mexican Jays are famously social, living in cooperative groups of up to 20 birds that jointly defend territory, store acorns, and help raise young, making them a favorite subject of long-term behavioral studies in southeastern Arizona.

Key Field Marks

• Overall dull blue head, wings, and tail with a contrasting pale gray back, throat, and underparts
• No crest, no black facial mask, and no white markings, giving a plain, unpatterned look
• Stout black bill; juveniles have a pale, yellowish bill that darkens with age

Similar Species

• Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay shows a more contrasting blue necklace, white throat, and blue breast band, and lacks the plain gray back of the Mexican Jay.
• Steller's Jay has a prominent black crest and much darker, sootier plumage, unlike the plain blue-gray Mexican Jay.
• Pinyon Jay is uniform dull blue overall without the pale gray back and underparts.

Mexican Jays inhabit evergreen oak and pine-oak woodlands in mountain "sky island" ranges of southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and western Texas, extending south through the Sierra Madre of Mexico. They favor mid-elevation canyons and slopes with a mix of oaks, junipers, and pines that provide abundant acorns and pine seeds.

The species is non-migratory, with family groups remaining on well-defined territories throughout the year.

Voice

Gives a distinctive, weak, questioning wink or quirp call, quite different from the harsher calls of many other jays, along with various rattles and chatter within flocks.

Feeding

Forages on the ground and in trees for acorns, pine seeds, and insects; caches large numbers of acorns in the ground each fall to survive winter, playing an important role in oak dispersal.

Nesting

Breeds cooperatively in extended family groups, with non-breeding helpers, often offspring from previous years, assisting in feeding nestlings and defending the territory against predators.