Eurasian jay

Eurasian jay
A Eurasian jay in England
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Corvidae
Genus:	Garrulus
Species:	G. glandarius
Binomial name
Garrulus glandarius (Linnaeus, 1758)
Subspecies
33 (in eight groups) - see text

The Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius) is a species of bird occurring over a vast region from Western Europe and north-west Africa to the Indian Subcontinent and further to the eastern seaboard of Asia and down into south-east Asia. Across its vast range, several very distinct racial forms have evolved to look very different from each other, especially when forms at the extremes of its range are compared.

The bird is called jay, without any epithets, by English speakers in Great Britain and Ireland. It is the original 'jay' after which all others are named.

Taxonomy and systematics

A Garrulus glandarius bispecularis from Uttarakhand, India

The Eurasian jay was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work Systema Naturae. He recognised its affinity with other corvids, naming it Corvus glandarius.^[2]

A typical example of the atricapillus group in Israel

Eight racial groups (33 subspecies in total) are recognised by Madge & Burn (1994): ^[3]

Garrulus glandarius brandtii

• the nominate group (nine European races), with a streaked crown.
• the cervicalis group (three races in North Africa), with a rufous nape, grey mantle, very pale head sides, and a streaked or black crown.
• the atricapillus group (four races in Middle East, Crimea & Turkey), with a uniform mantle & nape, black crown and very pale face.
• the race hyrcanus (Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests of Iran), small with black forecrown and broadly streaked hindcrown.
• the brandtii group (four races in Siberia and northern Japan), with a streaked crown, reddish head, dark iris and grey mantle.
• the leucotis group (two races in south-east Asia), with no white in the wing, a white forecrown, black hindcrown and much white on the sides of the head.
• the bispecularis group (six races in the Himalayan region), with an unstreaked rufous crown, and no white wing-patch.
• the japonicus group (four races in the southern Japanese islands), with a large white wing-patch, blackish face and scaled crown.

Distribution and habitat

A member of the widespread jay group, and about the size of the jackdaw, it inhabits mixed woodland, particularly with oaks, and is an habitual acorn hoarder. In recent years, the bird has begun to migrate into urban areas, possibly as a result of continued erosion of its woodland habitat. Before humans began planting the trees commercially on a wide scale, Eurasian jays were the main source of movement and propagation for the English oak (Q. robur).

Behaviour and ecology

Calls of Eurasian jay, Crimea

Its usual call is the alarm call which is a harsh, rasping screech and is used upon sighting various predatory animals, but the jay is well known for its mimicry, often sounding so like a different species that it is virtually impossible to distinguish its true identity unless the jay is seen. It will even imitate the sound of the bird it is attacking, such as a tawny owl, which it does mercilessly if attacking during the day. However, the jay is a potential prey item for owls at night and other birds of prey such as goshawks and peregrines during the day.

Diet

Feeding in both trees and on the ground, it takes a wide range of invertebrates including many pest insects, acorns (oak seeds, which it buries for use during winter),^[4] beech mast and other seeds, fruits such as blackberries and rowan berries, young birds and eggs, bats, and small rodents.

Breeding

Garrulus glandarius's egg,

It nests in trees or large shrubs laying usually 4–6 eggs that hatch after 16–19 days and are fledged generally after 21–23 days. Both sexes typically feed the young.

Health

In order to keep its plumage free from parasites, it lies on top of anthills with spread wings and lets its feathers be sprayed with formic acid.

References

1. BirdLife International (2012). "Garrulus glandarius". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
2. Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. (in Latin). Holmiae. (Laurentii Salvii). p. 824.
3. Madge, Steve; Burn, Hilary (1994). Crows and Jays. Helm Identification Guides. ISBN 0-7136-3999-7. (although the text accompanying plate 11 states "some 35 races", the species account on page 95 states that 33 are recognised, and the sum of the numbers of races listed for each group is 33, indicating that the figure accompanying the plate is an error)
4. Burton, Maurice; Burton, Robert (2002). International wildlife encyclopedia 18 (3rd ed.). New York: Marshall Cavendish. p. 2457. OCLC 779008612. Retrieved 2012-10-11. (subscription required (help)).

Further reading

• Akimova, A.; Haring, E.; Kryukov, S.; Kryukov, A. (2007). "First insights into a DNA sequence based phylogeny of the Eurasian Jay Garrulus glandarius" (PDF). Русский орнитологический журнал (Russian Journal of Ornithology): 567–575. ISSN 0869-4362. Retrieved 2012-10-10.
• Cheke, Lucy G.; Bird, Christopher D.; Clayton, Nicola S. (2011). "Tool-use and instrumental learning in the Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius)". Animal Cognition 14 (3): 441–455. doi:10.1007/s10071-011-0379-4. (subscription required (help)).

External links

• RSPB Information on jays in the UK
• Avibase
• ARKive Photographs, video.
• Ageing and sexing (PDF; 1.1 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
• Feathers of Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius)
• Jay photos