#gray-breasted jay

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

Have you seen the Mexican jay (Aphelocoma wollweberi)?

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Voting ended onMay 25, 2025

This species is also known as the gray-breasted jay.

[ainawgsd]

The Mexican jay (Aphelocoma wollweberi)  formerly known as the gray-breasted jay, is a New World jay native to Mexico and parts of the southwestern United States. The Mexican jay is a medium-sized jay with blue upper parts and pale gray underparts. It resembles the western scrub jay, but has an unstreaked throat and breast. This is a common species with a wide range and the ICUN has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".

It is native to the Sierra Madre Oriental, Sierra Madre Occidental, and Central Plateau of Mexico as well as eastern Arizona, western New Mexico and western Texas in the United States. Its preferred habitat is montane pine-oak forest.

In the winter, the Mexican jay's diet consists mainly of acorns and pine nuts, which are stored in the autumn. However, they are omnivorous in all seasons and their diet includes a wide variety of plant and animal matter, including invertebrates, small amphibians and reptiles, and birds' eggs and nestlings.

It has a cooperative breeding system similar to that of the related Florida scrub-jay, with several birds helping at a nest; these "helpers" are usually immature offspring of the dominant pair from the previous 1–2 years, but also include apparently unrelated flock members.