Yucatán Jay

About the Yucatán Jay

The Yucatan jay (Cyanocorax yucatanicus) is a species of bird in the family Corvidae, the crows and their allies. It is native to the Yucatán Peninsula where its habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, plantations and cleared areas at altitudes up to 250 m (820 ft). Adults are about 30 cm (12 in) long, black, with blue wings, mantle, and tail, black bills, yellow eye rings and legs. Immature birds have yellow bills. This is a common species of jay with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".

The Yucatan jay was first described by the naturalist Alphonse Dubois in 1875. It originally places in the genus Cyanocitta, and was given the scientific name Cyanocitta yucatanica. It is now placed by the genus Cyanocorax, which was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826, as Cyanocorax yucatanicus. In 1934, ornithologist Carl Eduard Hellmayr reorganized the genus Cyanocorax and split it into four subgenera. The Yucatan jay was placed into the subgenus Cissilopha as Cissilopha yucatanica. This is now considered a synonym for the Yucatan jay.

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