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Yucatan Jay | Cyanocorax yucatanicus
Yucatangaai | Chara yucateca
The Yucatan Jay is a black-and-blue jay with yellow legs that moves in noisy groups through the lowland forest of the Yucatán Peninsula. It occurs almost only on that peninsula and immediately adjacent areas. In the guide area it lives in south-eastern Mexico, northern Guatemala and northern Belize.
Voice
Very noisy. Loud, harsh cheh calls, often by the whole group, and dry rattles and clicking sounds.
Recording: GABRIEL LEITE — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
30–34 cm, with a long tail. Head, neck and entire underparts black; back, wings and tail bright blue. Legs yellow. Adults have a black bill; young birds have a yellow bill and yellow eye-ring that gradually turn black. Male and female are alike.
Confusion species
There is no similar jay within its range: Brown Jay Cyanocorax morio is brown and Green Jay Cyanocorax yncas green and yellow. Bushy-crested Jay Cyanocorax melanocyaneus and San Blas Jay Cyanocorax sanblasianus look very similar but live elsewhere.
Habitat
Dry and semi-evergreen lowland forest, secondary forest, scrub, forest edges, fields with copses and villages with trees. It eats insects, small vertebrates and fruit. It lives in groups and breeds cooperatively.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Yucatán Peninsula: the Mexican states of Yucatán, Campeche and Quintana Roo and eastern Tabasco, also northern Guatemala (Petén) and northern Belize. It does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Common in the forests around the Maya ruins of Calakmul and Cobá, where groups often pass close to the trails.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Common within its restricted range.
Scientific name
Cyanocorax yucatanicus | (Dubois, 1875)
Dubois described the species in 1875 as Cyanocitta yucatanica; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Cyanocorax was introduced in 1826 by Boie. Cyanocorax is Greek, from kuanos 'dark blue' and korax 'raven': a 'blue raven', after the blue colours of many species. yucatanicus means 'of Yucatán', after the peninsula where the species lives. The specimen the first description was based on came from Yucatán, Mexico.