Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Passeriformes > Corvidae > Aphelocoma > Aphelocoma californica

Aphelocoma californica (Western Scrub-Jay; Western Scrub Jay)

Synonyms: Aphelocoma coerulescens superciliosa; Garrulus californicus (homotypic)

Wikipedia Abstract

The California scrub jay (Aphelocoma californica), is a species of scrub jay native to western North America. It ranges from southern British Columbia throughout California west of the Sierra Nevada. The California scrub jay was once lumped with the island scrub jay, and Woodhouse's scrub jay, collectively called the western scrub jay. The group was also lumped with the Florida scrub jay; the taxon was then called, simply, the scrub jay. The California scrub jay is nonmigratory and can be found in urban areas, where it can become tame and will come to bird feeders. While many refer to scrub jays as "blue jays", the blue jay is a different species of bird entirely. In recent years, the California scrub jay has expanded its range north into the Tsawwassen region of British Columbia.
View Wikipedia Record: Aphelocoma californica

Infraspecies

Aphelocoma californica cactophila
Aphelocoma californica californica
Aphelocoma californica cana
Aphelocoma californica caurina
Aphelocoma californica hypoleuca
Aphelocoma californica immanis
Aphelocoma californica obscura
Aphelocoma californica oocleptica

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
2
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
16
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 4.99667
EDGE Score: 1.79121
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  78 grams
Birth Weight [3]  5 grams
Breeding Habitat [2]  Temperate western forests, Mexican pine-oak forests
Wintering Geography [2]  Non-migrartory
Wintering Habitat [2]  Temperate western forests, Mexican pine-oak forests
Diet [4]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates), Frugivore, Granivore
Diet - Ectothermic [4]  10 %
Diet - Endothermic [4]  20 %
Diet - Fruit [4]  20 %
Diet - Invertibrates [4]  20 %
Diet - Scavenger [4]  10 %
Diet - Seeds [4]  20 %
Forages - Mid-High [4]  10 %
Forages - Understory [4]  10 %
Forages - Ground [4]  80 %
Clutch Size [5]  4
Clutches / Year [3]  1
Fledging [1]  18 days
Incubation [3]  18 days
Mating Display [6]  Ground display
Maximum Longevity [3]  16 years
Snout to Vent Length [1]  11 inches (29 cm)
Female Maturity [1]  1 year 6 months
Male Maturity [1]  1 year

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
California Floristic Province Mexico, United States No
Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands Mexico, United States No

Prey / Diet

Prey / Diet Overlap

Predators

Accipiter cooperii (Cooper's Hawk)[7]
Aquila chrysaetos (Golden Eagle)[7]
Buteo jamaicensis (Red-tailed Hawk)[7]

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Baylisascaris procyonis (raccoon roundworm)[10]

Range Map

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Partners in Flight Avian Conservation Assessment Database, version 2017. Accessed on January 2018.
♦ 3de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 4Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 5Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 6Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 7Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 8Balda, Russell P. and Kamil, Alan, Linking Life Zones, Life History Traits, Ecology, and Spatial Cognition in Four Allopatric Southwestern Seed Caching Corvids (2006). Papers in Behavior and Biological Sciences. Paper 36.
♦ 9Sylvilagus bachmani, Joseph A. Chapman, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 34, pp. 1-4 (1974)
♦ 10Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0