The Inca jay or querrequerre (''Cyanocorax yncas'') is a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

species of the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

jay Jays are a paraphyletic grouping of passerine birds within the family Corvidae. Although the term "jay" carries no taxonomic weight, most or all of the birds referred to as jays share a few similarities: they are small to medium-sized, usually ...

s, which is native to the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Taxonomy

The Inca jay was described by the French polymath

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French Natural history, naturalist, mathematician, and cosmology, cosmologist. He held the position of ''intendant'' (director) at the ''Jardin du Roi'', now ca ...

in 1775 in his '' Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux''. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved by

François-Nicolas Martinet François-Nicolas Martinet (1731 - c. 1800) was a French engineer, engraver and naturalist. Although trained as an engineer and draftsman, he began to produce engravings for books and it later became his primary profession. Martinet's year of b ...

in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of

Edme-Louis Daubenton Edme-Louis Daubenton (12 August 1730 – 12 December 1785) was a French naturalist. Daubenton was the cousin of another French naturalist, Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton. Georges-Louis Leclerc, the Comte de Buffon engaged Edme-Louis Daubenton to su ...

to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist

Pieter Boddaert Pieter Boddaert (1730 – 6 May 1795) was a Dutch physician and naturalist. Early life, family and education Boddaert was the son of a Middelburg jurist and poet by the same name (1694–1760). The younger Pieter obtained his M.D. at the Univers ...

coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Corvus yncas'' in his catalogue of the ''Planches Enluminées''. Buffon's specimen came from Peru; in 1953 the American ornithologist

John Todd Zimmer John Todd Zimmer (February 28, 1889 in Bridgeport, Ohio – January 6, 1957 in White Plains, New York) was a leading American ornithologist. A graduate of University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he became interested in both entomology and ornithology. Fro ...

restricted the type location to Chilpes,

Department of Junín Junín () is a Departments of Peru, department and Political division of Peru, region in the central highland (geography), highlands and westernmost Peruvian Amazon. Its capital is Huancayo. Geography The region has a very heterogeneous to ...

. The Inca jay is now one of 17 species placed in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Cyanocorax __NOTOC__ ''Cyanocorax'' is a genus of New World jays, passerine birds in the family Corvidae. It contains several closely related species that primarily are found in wooded habitats, chiefly in lowland tropical rainforest but in some cases also ...

'' that was introduced by the German zoologist

Friedrich Boie Friedrich Boie (4 June 1789 – 3 March 1870) was a German entomologist, herpetologist, ornithologist, and lawyer.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Universi ...

in 1826. The name of the genus is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''kuanos'' "dark-blue" and ''korakos'' "raven". The specific epithet ''yncas'' is from the

Incas The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The Inca civilisation rose fr ...

, the inhabitants of Peru in

pre-Columbian America In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European c ...

. Five

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised: * '' C. y. galeatus'' ( Ridgway, 1900) – Found in western Colombia. Similar to ''C. y. yncas'' but with a larger crest. * '' C. y. cyanodorsalis'' Dubois, AJC, 1874 – East of the Andes in Colombia and northwest Venezuela. Smaller that ''C. y. geleatus'' but with a dark blue crest, white stripe on the forehead, blue crown and neck, dark green back, and darker legs. * '' C. y. guatimalensis'' ( Bonaparte, 1850) – Found in mountainous region in northern Venezuela. Similar to ''C. y. cyandorsalis'', but with shorter crest, less blue overall, and thinner white stripe on forehead. Brownish legs and irises. * '' C. y. yncas'' (

Boddaert Pieter Boddaert (1730 – 6 May 1795) was a Dutch physician and naturalist. Early life, family and education Boddaert was the son of a Middelburg jurist and poet by the same name (1694–1760). The younger Pieter obtained his M.D. at the Universi ...

, 1783) – Found in southwestern Columbia to eastern Ecuador and peru, into central Bolivia. Nominate subspecies. * '' C. y. longirostris'' ( Carriker, 1933) – Found along the Marañon Valley in north Peru. Similar to ''C. y. yncas'' but larger. Inca jay (Cyanocorax yncas yncas) San Isidro.jpg, ''C. y. yncas'', Ecuador Inca jay (Cyanocorax yncas yncas) head San Isidro.jpg, ''C. y. yncas'', Ecuador Some ornithologists treat the

green jay The green jay (''Cyanocorax luxuosus'') is a species of the New World jays, found in Central America, Mexico, and South Texas. Adults are about long and variable in color across their range; they usually have blue and black heads, green wings a ...

of North America and the Inca jay as

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

and with ''C. yncas luxuosus'' as the green jay and ''C. yncas yncas'' as the Inca jay. A 2010

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

study found that there were some genetic differences that support the theory that they are separate species, although it indicated that further research was required to confirm the findings. The following

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

(simplified from the 2010 mitochondrial DNA study) shows the relationship between species in the genus ''Cyanocorax''.

Description

The Inca jay is in length. The crown can appear mostly white, with blue limited to the frontal crest and nape. A black bib forms a broad band up to the sides of the head as well as a stripe through the eye line and one above it. The breast and underparts typically are bright yellow. The upper parts are rich green. The color of the

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (given name), a feminine given name, and a list of peopl ...

is bright yellow.

Voice

As with most of the typical jays, this species has a very extensive voice repertoire. The bird's most common call makes a ' sound, but many other unusual notes also occur. One of the most distinctive calls sounds like an alarm bell.

Distribution and habitat

The range extends southwards in the

from the

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

through

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, and

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Behavior and ecology

Breeding

Inca jays usually build a nest in a tree or a thorny bush or thicket, and the female lays three to five

eggs An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo begins to develop. Egg, EGG or eggs may also refer to: Biology * Egg cell, the female reproductive cell (gamete) in oogamous organisms Food * Eggs as food Places * Egg, Austria * Egg, Switzerland ...

. Only the female incubates, but both parents take care of the young. In

, they have been observed being victims of nest parasitism by

giant cowbird The giant cowbird (''Molothrus oryzivorus'') is a large passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds from southern Mexico south to northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago. It may have relatively recently colonised the latte ...

Feeding

Their basic diet consists of arthropods, vertebrates, seeds, and fruit.

References

External links

Green Jay videos
on the Internet Bird Collection * (for

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

) (shows RangeMap)
Green Jay photo gallery
VIREO {{Taxonbar, from=Q26274996

Inca Jay The Inca jay or querrequerre (''Cyanocorax yncas'') is a bird species of the New World jays, which is native to the Andes of South America. Taxonomy The Inca jay was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 17 ...

Tool-using animals Birds of the Northern Andes

Inca jay The Inca jay or querrequerre (''Cyanocorax yncas'') is a bird species of the New World jays, which is native to the Andes of South America. Taxonomy The Inca jay was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 17 ...