The Florida scrub jay (''Aphelocoma coerulescens'') is one of the

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of scrub jay native to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. It is the only species of bird

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the U.S. state of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and one of only 15 species endemic to the continental United States. Because of this, it is keenly sought by birders. It is known to have been present in Florida as a distinct species for at least 2 million years, and is possibly derived from the ancestors of Woodhouse's scrub jay.

Description

It measures in length, and weighs from , with an average . The wingspan of the jay is . It has a strong black bill, blue head and nape without a crest, a whitish forehead and

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also k ...

, blue bib, blue wings, grayish underparts, gray back, long blue tail, black legs and feet.

Ecology

The Florida scrub jay is found only in

Florida scrub Florida scrub is a forest ecoregion found throughout Florida in the United States. It is found on coastal and inland sand ridges and is characterized by an evergreen Xerophyte, xeromorphic plant community dominated by shrubs and dwarf oaks. Becau ...

habitat, an ecosystem that exists only in central Florida and in limited areas along the Atlantic coast, and is characterized by nutrient-poor soil, occasional

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

, and frequent

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

s. Because of its being isolated from the mainland as an island ( Orange Island) 34 to 28 million years ago and somewhat harsh weather pattern, this habitat in isolation evolved to host not only the Florida scrub jay endemic only to Florida, but also a small assortment of very ancient specific plants, including sand pine,

sand live oak ''Quercus geminata'', commonly called sand live oak, is an evergreen oak tree native to the coastal regions of the subtropical southeastern United States, along the Atlantic Coast from southern Florida northward to southeastern Virginia and al ...

, myrtle oak, Chapman's oak, sandhill oak, Florida rosemary and various other hardy plants such as

eastern prickly pear ''Opuntia humifusa'', commonly known as the devil's-tongue, eastern prickly pear or Indian fig, is a cactus of the genus '' Opuntia'' present in parts of the eastern United States and northeastern Mexico. Description As is the case in other ' ...

. Florida scrub jays are

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...

and eat a wide variety of

acorn The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), en ...

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

tree frog A tree frog (or treefrog) is any species of frog that spends a major portion of its lifespan in trees, known as an arboreal state. Several lineages of frogs among the Neobatrachia suborder have given rise to treefrogs, although they are not clos ...

turtle Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Crypt ...

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

s, and young

mice A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

. They have also been occasionally observed to eat other birds' eggs or nestlings, but this occurs rarely. They routinely

cache Cache, caching, or caché may refer to: Science and technology * Cache (computing), a technique used in computer storage for easier data access * Cache (biology) or hoarding, a food storing behavior of animals * Cache (archaeology), artifacts p ...

thousands of acorns a year, burying them just beneath the surface. The acorns are typically buried in the fall and consumed during the winter and spring. Acorns that are forgotten or missed may

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an flowering plant, angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the sp ...

, making the Florida Scrub-Jay an effective agent for the dispersal of a variety of oak trees. The Florida scrub jay may exhibit coordinated

cooperative hunting A pack hunter or social predator is a predatory animal which hunts its prey by working together with other members of its species. Normally animals hunting in this way are closely related, and with the exceptions of chimpanzees where only male ...

, as seen in one case where a mated pair of the birds were observed attacking a black racer together in southcentral Florida. The snake may have been too large for one jay to kill it alone, and the pair ultimately succeeded in killing the reptile. Cooperated hunting like this is rarely documented in

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

s. Scrub jays may also take silverware and other shiny objects in a manner similar to the

American crow The American crow (''Corvus brachyrhynchos'') is a large passerine bird species of the family (biology), family Corvidae. It is a common bird found throughout much of North America. American crows are the New World counterpart to the carrion cro ...

Reproduction

Florida scrub jays are one of the few

cooperative breeding Cooperative breeding is a social system characterized by alloparental care: offspring receive care not only from their parents, but also from additional group members, often called helpers. Cooperative breeding encompasses a wide variety of group s ...

birds in North America. Fledglings remain in their parents' habitat for several years and help to rear young, watch for predators (such as short-tailed hawks or ''

Accipiter ''Accipiter'' () is a genus of birds of prey in the family Accipitridae. Some species are called sparrowhawks, but there are many sparrowhawks in other genera such as '' Tachyspiza''. These birds are slender with short, broad, rounded wings and ...

''), and defend territory against neighboring Florida scrub jay family groups. These families can range in size from 2 to 8. Juvenile Florida scrub jay

After about 2 to 3 years, fledglings leave the group to form mating pairs of their own. Mating season ranges from March to June. Clutches usually contain about 3 to 4 eggs which are incubated in about 17 days. Fledging occurs in about 16 to 19 days. Fledglings can be distinguished from the adult birds due to the coloration of the feathers on their head, which are brown instead of blue. The brown feathers on the juvenile's head are slowly replaced by blue feathers as the bird matures into adulthood.

Conservation

Scrub habitat has dwindled considerably in the past several decades as Florida has continued to develop.

Wildfire suppression Wildfire suppression is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts depend on many factors such as the available fuel, the local atmospheric conditions, the features of the terrain, and the size of the wildfir ...

also leads to the natural

succession Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence. Governance and politics *Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...

of large

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

s and trees which changes the habitat. In recent years, environmental groups within the state have made a strong effort at preserving Florida's remaining scrub through controlled burns and even clearing out areas of large trees to increase the size of a scrub habitat. Because scrub habitat is typically "well-drained sites with low nutrient levels and periodic fires," the species is vulnerable to climate change. Oscar Scherer State Park near Sarasota has one of the larger habitats under state management. The Florida scrub jay was officially listed as a threatened state species by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in 1975 and it was listed as a threatened federal species by the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, ...

in 1987. According to Partners in Flight, there were estimated to be 4000 individuals left in the wild. Despite the protections, the Florida scrub jay is still thought to be on the decline. Studies done in Brevard County, once the county with the greatest population of scrub jays, has noted declines of some 33% since the 1993 census alone. Another attempt to conserve the bird is an ongoing campaign to name the Florida scrub jay as the new state bird of Florida. The main argument for changing the state bird is that the current state bird (viz. the

northern mockingbird The northern mockingbird (''Mimus polyglottos'') is a mockingbird commonly found in North America, of the family Mimidae. The species is also found in some parts of the Caribbean, as well as on the Hawaiian Islands. It is typically a permanent B ...

) is the state bird of several other states, while the scrub jay is exclusive to Florida. In recent years there has been some debate about whether or not the Florida scrub jay should be officially listed as an

Endangered Species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

because of the loss of homes. However, environmentalists hope that current conservation efforts should help the species population to at least stabilize. On the other hand, the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

classifies this species as vulnerable to

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

ion. In 2004, the population was declining and no more than 10 subpopulations were known. Both the number of adult birds as well as amount and quality of

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

were in decline, and local subpopulations were in danger of disappearing altogether. About 8000 mature birds were believed to exist—with no more than 1000 in any one subpopulation—and population numbers had dropped by about 10% over the last decade or so. A long-term and ongoing study of the Florida scrub jay has been taking place at the Archbold Biological Station at Lake Placid. The Florida scrub jay was featured in episode 11, season 3 of the Showtime television series '' Penn & Teller: Bullshit!''.

Dangers of human feeding

An inquisitive and intelligent species, the most striking attribute of the Florida scrub jay's behavior is its remarkable tameness. As such, scrub jays willingly take food from human hands. Unfortunately, this tameness is dangerous to the well-being of the species. Florida scrub jays that are fed by humans will reproduce earlier in the year than those that are not. However, fledgling scrub jays feed primarily on

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s present in the late spring and summer; if they hatch too early in the year when the caterpillars are not available, this can lead to their malnutrition or starvation. Another potential danger of feeding Florida scrub jays occurs when people feed them near a road, as one major cause of death for scrub jays in urban areas is collision with vehicles. Since humans build subdivisions, railroads, and highways on the highest and driest ground, where Florida scrub jays like to live, this removal of habitats, along with the introduction of pets, especially cats not on a leash, has devastated scrub jay populations. In the last 100 years, 90% of the bird's population has been lost.

Gallery

File:Adult_Florida_scrub_jays.jpg, Two adults at Lyonia Preserve File:Florida_Scrub_Jay.jpg, Adult File:Juvenile Florida scrub jay 02.jpg, Brown-colored head of a juvenile File:Juvenile_Florida_scrub_jay_01.jpg, Juvenile beginning to develop blue coloration on its head File:Florida Scrub Jay juvenile.jpg, Juvenile at Juniper Prairie in Ocala National Forest

Footnotes

Etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

: ''Aphelocoma'', from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

ized

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 ...

''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. ''coerulescens'',

for "becoming blue", in reference to the species' color which is lighter than in most American jays.

References

External links

Florida Scrub-Jay
on All About Birds by the

Cornell Lab of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...

Florida Scrub Jay ''Aphelocoma coerulescens''

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...

Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter.
Florida Scrub-Jay WatchList Species Account
from the American Bird Conservancy

mentions the movement to adopt the Scrub-Jay as Florida's State Bird

– VIREO * ttps://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2017/04/hardy48sh.mp3 Florida Scrub Scrub-Jay Soundbr>Florida Scrub-Jay call
from

(

RealMedia RealMedia is a proprietary multimedia container format (digital), container format created by RealNetworks with the filename extension . RealMedia is used in conjunction with RealVideo and RealAudio, while also being used for Streaming media, st ...

format). {{Authority control Florida scrub-jay Endemic birds of the Eastern United States Native birds of the Southeastern United States Endemic fauna of Florida Florida scrub-jay Florida scrub-jay ESA threatened species