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White-tailed Jay Cyanocorax mystacalis Scientific name definitions

Luiz dos Anjos
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2009

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Introduction

White-tailed Jay is a range-restricted Corvid of the Pacific Coast of South America. Found only in western Ecuador and northwestern Peru, it is the only jay in its range. The species is blue on the back and wings, white below and on the nape with a thick black bridle, yellow irides, and white tail tip and white outer rectrices on an otherwise blue tail. Conspicuous as it forages in the open, it is also rather rather vocal, often giving a repetitive hollow call. White-tailed Jay prefers dry woodland or desert-like scrub below 1200 meters in elevation.

Field Identification

33 cm; one male 160 g, one female 149 g. Feathers of forehead short-tufted and stiffly erect. Forehead, crown, side of head, side of neck, throat and upper breast are black (throat and upper breast of some individuals tend towards sepia), small white (sometimes blue-tinged) patch above eye, elongated white malar patch; nape, hindneck, upper mantle and lower side of neck white, rest of upperparts cyan-blue, sometimes tinged greyish; upper­wing bright cyan-blue, inner margins of primaries blackish; tail white except for central feather pair, which bright cyan-blue with white tip; iris bright lemon-yellow; bill and legs black. Sexes similar. Juvenile has feathers of malar patch tipped and more or less suffused with purplish-blue, white spot above eye lacking until first moult, iris pale brown.

Systematics History

Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

SW Ecuador (Guayas, El Oro and W Loja) and NW Peru (S to W La Libertad).

Habitat

Inhabits several types of semi-humid forest to dry woodland, particularly thick growth near streams and rivers, from sea coast to 2600 m; in Loja (Ecuador) occurs in patches of semi-evergreen lower montane cloudforest. Associated particularly with mesquite woodland and shrubby cactus steppe. Recorded in cultivated areas with trees.

Movement

Sedentary.

Diet and Foraging

Beetles (Coleoptera), ants (Formicidae), other insects and seeds recorded in stomach contents of specimens. Pair reported as raiding nest of Pale-legged Hornero (Furnarius leucopus), having apparently excavated a hole in side of baked-mud structure in order to reach eggs. Forages in flocks up to ten individuals, also in pairs and singly, at all levels of forest, woodland or scrub areas; frequently on ground, more so than congeners, this perhaps due to its open or semi-open habitats. Seems to approach human settlements more frequently than do other jays; forages in gardens and eats eggs of domestic fowl and ducks.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Few vocalizations known. Typical is chatter call, which variable in pitch, and transcribed as "cha-cha-cha-cha" (possibly social call); another call is a double high-pitched "clewp-clewp".

Breeding

Adult carrying nest material in Feb–Mar. Probably solitary breeder. Nest said to be built in large tree adjacent to village. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Restricted-range species: present in Tumbesian Region EBA. Uncommon to locally fairly common. Appears to have declined; was considered fairly common in Loja Province of Ecuador, but now generally in low numbers there. Habitat destruction is reducing the amount of this species' typical habitats.
Distribution of the White-tailed Jay - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the White-tailed Jay

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

dos Anjos, L. (2020). White-tailed Jay (Cyanocorax mystacalis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.whtjay2.01
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