Sichuan Jay Perisoreus internigrans Scientific name definitions

“Despite being the drabbest of all jays, even duller in appearance than the Brown Jay, its rarity and the remoteness of its environment makes it as enigmatic as the Giant Panda which shares the same habitats.” (1 Madge, S., and H. Burn (1994). Crows and Jays: a Guide to the Crows, Jays and Magpies of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close :99)

The Sichuan Jay is endemic to central China in the provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, and eastern Tibet. It inhabits subalpine and upper temperate coniferous forests; habitats similar to those used by other members of the genus. It is considered a relict form from Pleistocene glacial periods (2 Voous, K. H. (1960). Atlas of European Birds. Thomas Nelson and Sons, London, UK. Close , 3 Harrison, C. (1982). An Atlas of the Birds of the Western Palearctic. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close , 4 Lei, F.-M., Y.-H. Qu, J.-L. Lu, Y. Liu, and Z.-H. Yin. (2003). Conservation on diversity and distribution patterns of endemic birds in China. Biodiversity and Conservation 12:239–254. Close ). The distribution of the genus Perisoreus in the taiga and boreal forests of the Holarctic with a relict population in central China is mirrored by several other taxa, including the three-toed woodpecker complex in the genus Picoides and the closely-related grouse genera Tetrastes and Bonasa.

Although originally placed in a new genus, Boanerges, the species, even in the original description, was described as being similar to other members of the genus Perisoreus. Thayer and Bangs stated that the birds’ collector, Walter Reaves Zappey, informed them that the jay behaved “exactly like the Canada jay of North America.” Boanerges was soon subsumed into Perisoreus (5 Kleinschmidt, O., H. Weigold, and E. J. O. Hartert (1922). Zoologische Ergebnisse der Walter Stötznerschen Expeditionen nach Szetschwan, Osttibet und Tschili. 1. Corvidae, Certhiidae, Sittidae, Paridae, Cinclidae. Abhandlungen und Berichte des Zoologischen und Anthropologisch-Ethnographischen Museums zu Dresden 15:1–34. Close ), and the species has been shown to be most closely related to other members of the genus, and to the Siberian Jay (Perisoreus infaustus) in particular.

The Sichuan Jay is a poorly known species, and much remains to be learned about its ecology, behavior, and other aspects of its biology. Through the work of the Chinese ornithologists Yu Jing, Yun Fang, Nan Lu, and Yue-Hua Sun, many aspects of its natural history are now better understood. Recent details confirmed have included the coloration of the bird's soft parts, as well as observations of cooperative breeding and food-caching behaviors; both characteristics shared by other members of the genus.

It is a restricted-range species, present in the West Sichuan Mountains Endemic Bird Area, and the species is listed as Near Threatened under IUCN Red List criteria. Its decline is attributed to habitat loss and fragmentation due to past logging of forests throughout its range. The species is predicted to suffer further declines due to changes in available habitat as forests experience higher temperatures due to human-induced climate change.