Island Scrub-Jay: Medium-sized, crestless jay with gray-brown back and blue wings. Biologist Katie Langin, a graduate student at Colorado State University, has made a remarkable discovery about these birds—they’re splitting into two populations despite inhabiting the same island. Not just because it has a larger bill and brighter, more intense colors than the everyday Western Scrub-Jay, but because it only can be found on Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the Channel Islands off the California coast. Upper breast, throat, and chin are white with streaks. 1. Forages on ground. The entire population is found on one small island off the coast of California, Santa Cruz Island. Closely related to the California Scrub Jay, the Island version is noticably bigger, brighter colored and has a stout bill (used to crack the acorns of Santa Cruz’s Island Oaks). The island scrub-jay is noticeably larger than its mainland related species of scrub jays. Flies with steady bouyant wing beats. The island scrub-jay can live as long as twenty years. The Island Scrub-Jay likely has the smallest geographic range of any North American bird species. This stunning bird is found only on this island, North American's only insular endemic bird. From the CA Slender Salmander with its double row of blue spots going down its black back, to the biggest, bluest Scrub-Jay you'll ever see, there are many wonders. The butterflies always impress me in their numbers in June. Tail and undertail coverts are blue. Despite the Florida Scrub-Jay’s tenuous environmental position, they’re still easy to find if you get to the right spot. The Island Scrub-Jay may teach us as much about evolution as Charles Darwin’s finches did over a century ago. Appearance Measuring 13 inches, the island scrub-jay is distinguished from other scrub-jays by its larger size—almost 1/3 larger than its mainland counterpart. Island Scrub-Jay Aphelocoma insularis Taxonomy: The Island Scrub-Jay was considered a subspecies of the widespread Scrub Jay until 1995, when Scrub Jay was split into three species – Island, Western, and Florida Scrub-Jays. The Island Scrub-Jay is restricted to Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the California Channel Islands (Figure 1), and is the most morphologically distinct member of the Channel Islands' avifauna (Atwood 1979, 1980a, Isitt 1989, Collins and Corey 1994. On Western Scrub-Jay the mantle is a paler gray with less obvious blue and brown tones and contrasting distinctly with the surrounding blue, especially the darker blue of the “necklace”. on the Island and it is a case study in island Biology and evolution. There, recent estimates put the total population at no more than 4,000 individuals, and there may be as few as 1,000 breeding pairs in existence. While we don’t really know what an island scrub jay is thinking, we have a few pretty good guesses about advice they might want to share with all those who visit the islands. Head is blue with gray mask and narrow white eyebrow. The Island Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma insularis) is that bird. Find This Bird. The mantle of Island Scrub-Jay is a dark blue-brown, so dark that it contrasts very little with the surrounding blue of the wings and nape. The Florida Scrub-Jay is a well-studied cooperative breeder, with most offspring staying with their parents to help them raise young for at least one year. The Florida Scrub-Jay used to be considered part of one species, the Scrub Jay, together with the Western and Island scrub-jays. Don’t look so blue… An island scrub jay sits perched on a lemonade berry bush on Santa Cruz Island. 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