Island Scrub Jay vs Mexican Jay

Island Scrub Jay

Aphelocoma insularis

Medium116 gShrubland

The island scrub jay is closely related to the California scrub jay (the coastal population found on the adjacent mainland), but differs in being larger, more brightly colored, and having a markedly stouter bill. They will bury, or cache, the acorns in the fall and may eat them months later. They also eat insects, spiders, snakes, lizards, mice and other birds' eggs and nestlings.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ben Sims · CC0

Mexican Jay

Aphelocoma wollweberi

Medium113 gForest

The Mexican jay is a medium-large (~120 g) passerine similar in size to most other jays, with a blue head, blue-gray mantle, blue wings and tail, and pale gray breast and underparts. The sexes are morphologically similar, and juveniles differ only in having less blue coloration and, in some populations, a pink/pale (instead of black) bill that progressively becomes more black with age (Brown and Horvath 1989). Some field guides misreport this color as yellow because the pale bill becomes yellow in museum study skins. The iris is brown and legs are black.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: EJ Burns · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Island Scrub Jay and Mexican Jay.