White-throated magpie-jay
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = White-throated magpie-jay
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| image = White-throated magpie-jay (Calocitta formosa pompata) Copan 3.jpg
| image_caption = C. f. pompata, Honduras
| genus = Cyanocorax
| species = formosus
| authority = (Swainson, 1827)
| synonyms = Pica formosa (protonym)
| range_map = Calocitta formosa map.svg
}}
The white-throated magpie-jay (Cyanocorax formosus) is a large Central American species of magpie-jay. It ranges in Pacific-slope thorn forest from Jalisco, Mexico, to Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Magpie-jays are noisy, gregarious birds, often traveling in easy-to-find flocks, mobbing their observers.
Taxonomy
The white-throated magpie-jay was formally described in 1827 by the English naturalist William Swainson from a specimen that had been collected by the naturalist William Bullock in Temascaltepec, Mexico. Swainson coined the binomial name Pica formosa.{{ cite journal | last=Swainson | first=William | author-link=William Swainson | year=1827 | title=A synopsis of the birds discovered in Mexico by W. Bullock, F.L.S. and Mr. William Bullock jun. | journal=Philosophical Magazine | series=New Series | volume=1 | pages=433–442 [437] | doi=10.1080/14786442708674357 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15530447 }} The specific epithet is from the Latin formosus meaning "beautiful".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=163 }} The white-throated magpie-jay and the black-throated magpie-jay were formerly placed in their own genus Calocitta. When molecular phylogenetic studies found that the genus Cyanocorax was paraphyletic relative to Calocitta,{{Cite journal | last1=Bonaccorso | first1=E. | last2=Peterson | first2=A.T. | last3=Navarro-Sigüenza | first3=A.G. | last4=Fleischer | first4=R.C. | date=2010 | title=Molecular systematics and evolution of the Cyanocorax jays | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=54 | issue=3 | pages=897–909 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2009.11.014| pmid=19931623 | hdl=1808/6568 | hdl-access=free }}{{Cite journal | last1=McCullough | first1=J.M. | last2=Oliveros | first2=C.H. | last3=Benz | first3=B.W. | last4=Zenil-Ferguson | first4=R. | last5=Cracraft | first5=J. | last6=Moyle | first6=R.G. | last7=Andersen | first7=M.J. | date=2022 | title=Wallacean and Melanesian Islands Promote Higher Rates of Diversification within the Global Passerine Radiation Corvides | journal=Systematic Biology | volume=71 | issue=6 | pages=1423–1439 | doi=10.1093/sysbio/syac044 | doi-access=free | pmid=35703981 }} the two species were subsumed into Cyanocorax to resolve the paraphyly.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Crows, mudnesters, birds-of-paradise | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/crows/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=18 September 2024 }}{{Cite journal | last1=Chesser | first1=R.T. | last2=Billerman | first2=S.M. | last3=Burns | first3=K.J. | last4=Cicero | first4=C. | last5=Dunn | first5=J.L. | last6=Hernández-Baños | first6=B.E. | last7=Jiménez | first7=R.A. | last8=Johnson | first8=O. | last9=Kratter | first9=A.W. | last10=Mason | first10=N.A. | last11=Rasmussen | first11=P.C. | last12=Remsen | first12=J.V.J. | date=2024 | title=Sixty-fifth Supplement to the American Ornithological Society's Check-list of North American Birds | journal=Ornithology | volume=141 | issue=3 | pages=ukae019 | doi=10.1093/ornithology/ukae019 | doi-access=free }}
Three subspecies are recognised:
- C. f. formosus (Swainson, 1827) – Colima, Michoacán and Puebla south to Oaxaca (southwest Mexico)
- C. f. azureus (Nelson, 1897) – Oaxaca and Chiapas (southeast Mexico) and west Guatemala
- C. f. pompatus (Bangs, 1914) – east Chiapas (southeast Mexico) and east Guatemala to northwest Costa Rica
The white-throated magpie-jay hybridizes in Jalisco with the black-throated magpie-jay (C. colliei), with which it forms a superspecies.
Description
File:Calocitta formosa -Costa Rica -upper body-8.jpg
The white-throated magpie-jay is between {{convert|43|and(-)|56|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length and weighs {{convert|205|to(-)|213|g|oz|abbr=on}}. The species has a particularly long tail and a slightly curved crest of feathers on the head. The crest is black in the nominate race, but has blue or white margins on the other two subspecies. The nominate race has a white face with a black crown and margin to the face, forming a narrow band around the throat, as well as a small drop below the eye. The black is less extensive in the other subspecies. The breast, belly and underside of the rump are white, and the wings, mantle and tail are blue (with whitish margins on the tail). The legs and eye are black, and the bill is grey. The plumage of the females is mostly as that of the male but duller on the top, with a narrower band across the chest, and the tail is shorter.
Distribution and habitat
The white-throated magpie-jay is associated with a wide range of habitats from arid environments to semi-humid woodlands, from sea level up to {{convert|1250|m|ft|abbr=on}}, although only occasionally higher than {{convert|800|m|ft|abbr=on}}. It occurs rarely in columnar cacti forest, but is common in thorn forest, gallery forest, deciduous woodland, forest edges and cultivated areas like coffee plantations. The species does not undertake any migratory movements, although males disperse away from their natal territories a few years after fledging. It is a common species across its range, and is not considered threatened by human activities.
Behaviour
White-throated magpie-jays are omnivorous, consuming a wide range of animal and plant matter. Items included in the diet include invertebrates such as insects and caterpillars, frogs, lizards, eggs and nestlings of other birds, seeds, fruits, grain, and nectar from Balsa blossoms. Younger birds take several years to acquire the full range of foraging skills of their parents.
References
{{Reflist|refs=
- {{cite book |first=John |last=Marzluff |editor1-last=del Hoyo |editor1-first=Josep |editor2-last=Elliott |editor2-first=Andrew |editor3-last=Christie |editor3-first=David |contribution=Family Corvidae (Crows) |title=Handbook of the Birds of the World |volume=14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows |page=587 |year=2009 |location=Barcelona |publisher=Lynx Edicions |isbn=978-84-96553-50-7|title-link=Handbook of the Birds of the World }}
- {{cite journal |last=Langen |first=Tom |year=1996 |title=Skill acquisition and the timing of natal dispersal in the white-throated magpie-jay, Calocitta formosa |journal=Animal Behaviour |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=575–588 |doi=10.1006/anbe.1996.0061 |citeseerx=10.1.1.515.2643 |s2cid=1377098 }}
}}
External links
- {{BirdLife|22705760|Calocitta formosa}}
- {{InternetBirdCollection|white-throated-magpie-jay-calocitta-formosa|White-throated magpie-jay}}
- {{VIREO|White-throated+magpie-jay}}
- {{NeotropicalBirds|wtmjay1|White-throated magpie-jay}}
- {{IUCN_Map|22705760|Calocitta formosa}}
{{Corvidae}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q958459|from2=Q28823117}}