Unicolored jay

{{Short description|Species of bird}}

{{Speciesbox

| name = Unicolored jay

| image = Aphelocoma unicolor.jpg

| image_caption = In Oaxaca, Mexico

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2020 |title=Aphelocoma unicolor |volume=2020 |page=e.T22705642A137731554 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22705642A137731554.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}

| genus = Aphelocoma

| species = unicolor

| authority = (Du Bus de Gisignies, 1847)

| range_map = Aphelocoma unicolor map.svg

}}

The unicolored jay (Aphelocoma unicolor)

Etymology: Aphelocoma, from Latinized Ancient Greek apheles- (from ἀφελής-) "simple" + Latin coma (from Greek kome κόμη) "hair", in reference to the lack of striped or banded feathers in this genus, compared to other jays. unicolor, Latin for "unicolored". is an Aphelocoma jay native to cloud forests of northwestern Central America and southern and southeastern Mexico, from central Honduras west to central Guerrero, southern Veracruz and extreme southern San Luis Potosí. It is apparently a basal member of its genus (Rice et al. 2003). At Montebello, Chiapas, it is a cooperative breeder (Webber and Brown 1994), and is not known to perform mating dances.{{Cite journal |last=Cheek |first=Rebecca G. |last2=Harris |first2=Michelle L. |last3=Kennedy |first3=Anna |date=2019-06-12 |title=First Documented Observation of Island Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma insularis) Precopulatory Display |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3398/064.079.0213 |journal=Western North American Naturalist |volume=79 |issue=2 |pages=275 |doi=10.3398/064.079.0213 |issn=1527-0904}}

Subspecies<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Venkatraman |first=Madhvi X |last2=Deraad |first2=Devon A |last3=Tsai |first3=Whitney L E |last4=Zarza |first4=Eugenia |last5=Zellmer |first5=Amanda J |last6=Maley |first6=James M |last7=Mccormack |first7=John E |date=2018-11-25 |title=Cloudy with a chance of speciation: integrative taxonomy reveals extraordinary divergence within a Mesoamerican cloud forest bird |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/bly156 |journal=Biological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=126 |issue=1 |pages=1–15 |doi=10.1093/biolinnean/bly156 |issn=0024-4066|doi-access=free }}</ref>

  • A. u. guerrerensis has an especially large bill and long tail. Its feathers are bluish-purple.
  • A. u. concolor has pale blue plumage.
  • A. u.oaxacae has dark blue plumage. Its wing, tail and tarsus are relatively short.
  • A. u. unicolor
  • A. u. griscomi

References

  • Rice, Nathan H.; Martínez-Meyer, Enrique & Peterson, A. Townsend (2003): Ecological niche differentiation in the Aphelocoma jays: a phylogenetic perspective. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 80(3): 369–383. {{doi|10.1046/j.1095-8312.2003.00242.x}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221317/http://www.ansp.org/research/biodiv/ornithology/pdf/Jay-phylogeny.pdf PDF fulltext]
  • Webber, T., and Jerram L. Brown. 1994. Natural History of the Unicolored Jay in Chiapas, Mexico. Proceedings of the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology 5(2):135-160.
  • Webber, T., and Nancy G. Stotz. 2019. Vocalizations of Unicolored Jays (Aphelocoma unicolor) at Montebello, Chiapas, Mexico. Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History 57 (1): 1–75.

=Footnotes=

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