Bird Guide

Plush-crested Jay vs Violaceous Jay

Plush-crested Jay (Cyanocorax chrysops)

Plush-crested Jay

Cyanocorax chrysops

Medium166 gForest

The plush-crested jay is a medium-sized bird with an overall dark blue colored plumage. It has a cream-yellow underbelly, undertail coverts, underwings, and tail tip, while the upper breast, neck, and head are mostly black. It has a lighter blue on its cheeks and nape, which fades into the darker blue of its body, as well as a spot above its eyes, which are yellow. Its bill is dark blue to black. It has a rounded crest on its head, which it is named for.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Miguel A. Paixão · CC BY 4.0
Violaceous Jay (Cyanocorax violaceus)

Violaceous Jay

Cyanocorax violaceus

Medium262 gForest

The violaceus jay is 33 to 37 cm (13 to 15 in) long and weighs about 260 g (9.2 oz). The sexes have similar plumage. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a blackish forecrown and a blackish or dark sepia crown and sides of the head and neck. Their nape is pale bluish white that becomes pale blue at the base of the nape. Their upper back is pale violaceous blue and the rest of their upperparts a darker violaceous blue. Their primaries are blackish with violaceous blue on their outer edges. Their tail is indigo-blue. Voice: The violaceous jay's typical call is "a downwardly inflected Jeeeer! given several times". It also makes "a clop-clop-clop-clop, various quiet chortling gurgles, a descending ripple, and a guttural clicking".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Violaceous Jay
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call, calls · Sucumbíos: Mirador de Lumbaqui, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Lucas Illanes · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Plush-crested Jay and Violaceous Jay.