Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
Learn more about these drawings.
Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds
Adult. Photo: Mike Charest
Island Scrub-Jay
Aphelocoma insularis
| Conservation status | Total population has been estimated recently at about 2,300. (Previous estimates of over 12,000 probably were much too high.) The removal of feral sheep from most of Santa Cruz Island in the 1980s apparently has improved habitat quality for the jay. However, the species is still considered vulnerable because of the small size of the island. |
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| Family | Crows, Magpies, Jays |
| Habitat | Mostly oak woodland and chaparral. Its major habitats on Santa Cruz Island consist of low chaparral dominated by island scrub oak and woodlands dominated by other species of oaks. As with many kinds of island birds, however, it is adaptable, taking advantage of other habitats such as pine woods and streamside thickets. |
Photo Gallery
Feeding Behavior
Forages on the ground and in trees, sometimes in flocks. Often harvests acorns and buries them, to retrieve and eat them later.
Eggs
3-4, sometimes 2-5. Light bluish green, spotted faintly with olive. Incubation is by female, about 18 days. Young: Fed by both parents. Age at first flight is not well known. 1 brood per year.
Young
Fed by both parents. Age at first flight is not well known. 1 brood per year.
Diet
Omnivorous. Diet varies with season. Eats a wide variety of insects and other arthropods. Feeds heavily on acorns, especially in fall, as well as other seeds and berries. Also eats small lizards, snakes, mice, and the eggs and young of smaller birds.
Nesting
Unlike Florida Scrub-Jay and Mexican Jay, this species breeds in isolated pairs, not in cooperative flocks. Nest site is in tree or shrub, usually an oak, typically 6-10 feet above the ground but sometimes much higher. Nest (built by both sexes) is a bulky, thick-walled cup of twigs, lined with fine rootlets and sometimes with animal hair.
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Songs and Calls
No advertising song; vocalizations similar to those of Western Scrub-Jay, although generally louder and harsher than among mainland birds. Most common calls a harsh shek-shek-shek or rising shreeenk.Island Scrub-Jay In the News More News
From Audubon Magazine
These Students Are Partnering With Corvids to Replant a Forest After Fire
Island Scrub-Jays are acorn-planting machines. Might flying foresters be just what today's scorched Western landscapes need?
Letter From The Editor
When We Need Them Most, Birds and Nature Are At Our Service
The natural world holds tremendous value, in ways both expected and surprising—if only we let it.
Science
How Crossbills and Other Birds Are Rewriting the Rules of Evolution
A possible new crossbill species is the latest example of how genetic research is giving us surprising insights into the ways animals evolve.
