Curl-crested jay

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Curl-crested jay
Male

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Corvidae
Genus: Cyanocorax
Species:
C. cristatellus
Binomial name
Cyanocorax cristatellus
(Temminck, 1823)

The curl-crested jay (Cyanocorax cristatellus) is a jay from South America.

This New World jay is a beautiful and large (35 cm/14 in overall) bird with predominantly dark blue back, an almost black head and neck, and snow-white chest and underparts. They have a pronounced curled crest rising from just behind the beak; the crest is on average larger in males, but the sexes are generally quite similar.

The voice is a loud, gray, graa, gray-gray-gray, sometimes repeated 8-10 times.[2] They sound similar to crow.

Female curl-crested jay

Curl-crested jays are native to the

They live in groups of from 6 to 12 individuals, moving from food source to food source during the day. They leave a lookout nearby to keep watch for predators.

palm nuts and is particularly fond of the seeds of the native Inga laurina and the fruits of the introduced umbrella tree (Heptapleurum actinophyllum). Curl-crested jays have even been observed spending the early morning in a pequi tree (Caryocar brasiliense) where they fed on nectar, and perhaps also on invertebrates which had visited the mainly night-blooming flowers of this plant.[5]

This jay is not considered a threatened species by the

IUCN,[6] and in fact they are at present expanding their range. However, range expansions may only be temporary and populations may eventually disappear from formerly settled locations again.[7]

Footnotes

  1. . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. ^ Sick (1993)
  3. ^ Rodrigues et al. (2005)
  4. ^ Ragusa-Netto (2000)
  5. ^ Melo (2001)
  6. ^ BLI (2008)
  7. ^ Faria et al. (2006)

References

External links