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Home/Species/ Mexican Jay

Aphelocoma wollweberi

Kaup, 1854

Mexican Jay

G5Secure Found in 25 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.872477
Element CodeABPAV06060
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassAves
OrderPasseriformes
FamilyCorvidae
GenusAphelocoma
Other Common Names
Chara Pecho Gris (ES) Geai du volcans (FR)
Concept Reference
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). Chesser, R.T., R.C. Banks, F.K. Barker, C. Cicero, J.L. Dunn, A.W. Kratter, I.J. Lovette, P.C. Rasmussen, J.V. Remsen, Jr., J.D. Rising, D.F. Stotz, and K. Winker. 2011. Fifty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 128(3):600-613.
Taxonomic Comments
Groups: A. wollweberi [Mexican Jay] and A. couchii Baird, 1858 [Couch's Jay]. Formerly treated as conspecific with A. ultramarina under the English name Mexican Jay, but separated on the basis of differences in nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (McCormack et al. 2008, 2011), morphology, plumage, and voice (Pitelka 1951, Brown and Horvath 1989, McCormack et al. 2008). Consists of at least three distinct mitochondrial DNA lineages, but nuclear markers indicate some gene flow between couchii and potosina mtDNA lineages (McCormack et al. 2008, 2011) (AOU 2011).
Conservation Status
Review Date1996-12-02
Change Date1996-12-02
Range Extent Comments
Resident: [wollweberi group] from central Arizona and isolated mountain ranges of southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northern Sonora south throughout Sierra Madre Occidental in Sonora, western Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, and northern Jalisco, and west to Nayarit; [couchii group] from southwestern Texas (Chisos Mountains) and isolated mountains of northern Coahuila south throughout Sierra Madre Oriental in southeastern Coahuila and northwestern Nuevo León, south to western Veracruz, east to western Tamaulipas, and west to the central Mexican Plateau in San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, Guanajuato, and eastern Jalisco.
Ecology & Habitat

Description

See Kaufman (1990) for detailed information on identification of scrub and gray-breasted jays. See Peterson (1991) for information on geographic variation in the ontogeny of beak coloration.

Habitat

Oak woodland, pine-oak association, juniper, scrub, and rarely lowland riparian woodland (Subtropical and Temperate zones) (AOU 1983). Lower elevational limit: where oaks become rare; upper limit: where Steller's jay occurs (Brown and Brown 1985, Edwards 1986). BREEDING: Usually nests in a live oak tree, 2-15 m (usually 4.5-7.5 m) above ground (Terres 1980).

Ecology

Gregarious. Usually travels in family flocks of 6-20 birds. See Brown and Brown (1985) for density in southeastern Arizona.

Reproduction

Clutch size 3-7 (usually 4-5). Incubation 18 days, by female. Young tended by parents and young of previous seasons. Young leave nest 24-25 days after hatching. Often nests in small loose colonies.
Terrestrial Habitats
Woodland - HardwoodWoodland - MixedShrubland/chaparral
Palustrine Habitats
Riparian
Other Nations (1)
United StatesN5
ProvinceRankNative
New MexicoS4B,S4NYes
ArizonaS5Yes
TexasS5BYes
Roadless Areas (25)
Arizona (17)
AreaForestAcres
Arnold MesaPrescott National Forest12,286
Butterfly Roadless AreaCoronado National Forest42,296
Cdo WsaCoronado National Forest1,955
ChiricahuaCoronado National Forest76,876
Happy ValleyCoronado National Forest7,972
Hell HoleApache-Sitgreaves National Forests15,512
HellsgateTonto National Forest6,171
Lower San FranciscoApache-Sitgreaves National Forests59,310
MazatzalTonto National Forest16,942
Middle Dragoon RoadlessCoronado National Forest10,543
Oracle RoadlessCoronado National Forest22,365
Painted BluffsApache-Sitgreaves National Forests43,118
PinalenoCoronado National Forest130,920
Pine Mountain Wilderness ContiguousTonto National Forest6,518
Sierra Ancha Wilderness ContiguousTonto National Forest7,787
TumacacoriCoronado National Forest44,594
WhetstoneCoronado National Forest20,728
New Mexico (8)
AreaForestAcres
Aspen MountainGila National Forest23,784
Contiguous To Black & Aldo Leopold WildernessGila National Forest111,883
Contiguous To Gila Wilderness & Primitive AreaGila National Forest79,049
Devils CreekGila National Forest89,916
Hell HoleGila National Forest19,553
Lower San FranciscoGila National Forest26,460
Meadow CreekGila National Forest34,167
Peloncillo (NM)Coronado National Forest43,339
References (17)
  1. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
  2. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1995. Fortieth supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. Auk 112:819-30.
  3. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in <i>The Auk</i>]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
  4. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). Chesser, R.T., R.C. Banks, F.K. Barker, C. Cicero, J.L. Dunn, A.W. Kratter, I.J. Lovette, P.C. Rasmussen, J.V. Remsen, Jr., J.D. Rising, D.F. Stotz, and K. Winker. 2011. Fifty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 128(3):600-613.
  5. Bent, A.C. 1946. Life histories of North American jays, crows, and titmice. U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 191. Washington, D.C.
  6. Bhagabati, N. K. and E. G. Horvath. 2006. Mexican Jay social group size varies with habitat in northeastern Mexico. Journal of Field Ornithology 77:104-110.
  7. BirdLife International. 2004b. Threatened birds of the world 2004. CD ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
  8. Brown, J. L., and E. R. Brown. 1985. Ecological correlatesof group size in a communally breeding jay. Condor 87:309- 315.
  9. Edwards, T. C., Jr. 1986. Ecological distribution of the gray-breasted jay: the role of habitat. Condor 88:456-460.
  10. Goodwin, D. 1986. Crows of the world. Second edition. Univ. Washington Press. 300 pp.
  11. Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
  12. Oberholser, H.C. 1974. The bird life of Texas. 2 vols. Univ. of Texas Press, Austin.
  13. Parker III, T. A., D. F. Stotz, and J. W. Fitzpatrick. 1996. Ecological and distributional databases for neotropical birds. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
  14. Peterson, A. T. 1991. Geographic variation in the ontogeny of beak coloration of gray-breasted jays (APHELOCOMA ULTRAMARINA). Condor 93:448-452.
  15. Peterson, A. T. 1992. Phylogeny and rates of molecular evolution in the APHELOCOMA jays (Corvidae). Auk 109:133-147.
  16. Poole, A. F. and F. B. Gill. 1992. The birds of North America. The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. and The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA.
  17. Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.