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Jays
A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For example, the Eurasian magpie seems more closely related to the Eurasian jay than to the East Asian blue and green magpies, whereas the blue jay is not closely related to either. Systematics and species Jays are not a monophyletic group. Anatomical and molecular evidence indicates they can be divided into an American and an Old World lineage (the latter including the ground jays and the piapiac), while the grey jays of the genus ''Perisoreus'' form a group of their own.http://www.nrm.se/download/18.4e32c81078a8d9249800021299/Corvidae%5B1%5D.pdf PDF fulltext The black magpies, formerly believed to be related to jays, are classified as treepies. Old World ("brown") jays Grey jays American jays In culture Slang The word ''jay'' has an archaic me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gymnorhinus
The pinyon jay (''Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus'') is a species of jay, and is the only member of the genus ''Gymnorhinus''. Native to Western North America, the species ranges from central Oregon to northern Baja California, and eastward as far as western Oklahoma, though wanderers are often sighted beyond this range. It is typically found within foothills, especially where pinyon pines (''Pinus edulis'' and ''Pinus monophylla'') occur. Description The pinyon jay is a bluish-grey coloured bird with deeper head colouring and whitish throat with black bill, legs and feet. Roughly intermediate between the blue jay and the Eurasian jay in size, its overall proportions are similar to Clark's nutcracker (''Nucifraga columbiana'') and this can be seen as convergent evolution, as both birds fill similar ecological niches. Taxonomy The pinyon jay was first collected, recorded, and first described as a species from a specimen shot along the Maria River in what is now northern Montana durin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Jay
The blue jay (''Cyanocitta cristata'') is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to eastern North America. It lives in most of the eastern and central United States; some eastern populations may be migratory. Resident populations are also in Newfoundland, Canada; breeding populations are found across southern Canada. It breeds in both deciduous and coniferous forests, and is common in residential areas. Its coloration is predominantly blue, with a white chest and underparts, and a blue crest; it has a black, U-shaped collar around its neck and a black border behind the crest. Males and females are similar in size and plumage, and plumage does not vary throughout the year. Four subspecies have been recognized. The blue jay feeds mainly on seeds and nuts, such as acorns, which it may hide to eat later; soft fruits; arthropods; and occasionally small vertebrates. It typically gleans food from trees, shrubs, and the ground, and sometimes hawks insects from the air. Blue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aphelocoma
The passerine birds of the genus ''Aphelocoma'' include the scrub jays and their relatives. They are New World jays found in Mexico, western Central America and the western United States, with an outlying population in Florida. This genus belongs to the group of New World (or "blue") jays–possibly a distinct subfamily–which is not closely related to other jays, magpies or treepies. They live in open pine-oak forests, chaparral, and mixed evergreen forests. Systematics Seven species of ''Aphelocoma'' are generally recognized at the present time. They are believed to have evolved in the Pleistocene, and the Florida scrub jay is known to have been recognizably distinct and present in its current range for at least two million years. The inland, coastal, and Santa Cruz island populations of the (former) western scrub-jay are now considered three separate species: Woodhouse's, the California and the island scrub jays. Two different populations of the Mexican jay might similarly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corvidae
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In colloquial English, they are known as the crow family or corvids. Currently, 133 species are included in this family. The genus ''Corvus'', including the crows, rooks, and ravens, makes up over a third of the entire family. Corvids (ravens) are the largest passerines. Corvids display remarkable intelligence for animals of their size, and are among the most intelligent birds thus far studied. Specifically, members of the family have demonstrated self-awareness in mirror tests (European magpies) and tool-making ability (e.g. crows and rooks), skills which until recently were thought to be possessed only by humans and a few other higher mammals. Their total brain-to-body mass ratio is equal to that of non-human great apes and cetaceans, and only slightly lower than that of humans.Birding in India and South AsiaCor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eurasian Jay
The Eurasian jay (''Garrulus glandarius'') is a species of passerine bird in the crow family Corvidae. It has pinkish brown plumage with a black stripe on each side of a whitish throat, a bright blue panel on the upper wing and a black tail. The Eurasian jay is a woodland bird that occurs 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 this vast range, several distinct racial forms have evolved which look different from each other, especially when comparing forms at the extremes of its range. The bird is called jay, without any epithets, by English speakers in Great Britain and Ireland. Taxonomy and systematics The Eurasian jay was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his '' Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Corvus glandarius''. Linnaeus specified the locality as "Europa" but this was restric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ground Jay
The ground jays or ground choughs belong to a distinct group of the passerine order of birds in the genus ''Podoces'' of the crow family Corvidae. They inhabit high altitude semi-desert areas from central Asia to Mongolia. Ground jays show adaptations to ground living such as long, strong legs adapted to fast running and the ability to leap and bound onto boulders and rocks with great agility. Their long, curved thick bills are adapted for digging and probing. While capable of flight (which they do infrequently and relatively weakly), they prefer running, and will readily perch on trees and bushes also. Species list The ground tit (''Pseudopodoces humilis''), previously Hume's ground jay, has changed its placement within the Passeriformes recently because of molecular and osteological testing. It has now been placed into the Paridae The tits, chickadees, and titmice constitute the Paridae, a large family of small passerine birds which occur mainly in the Northern Hemisphe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 are distinguished from other orders of birds by the arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back), which facilitates perching. With more than 140 families and some 6,500 identified species, Passeriformes is the largest clade of birds and among the most diverse clades of terrestrial vertebrates, representing 60% of birds.Ericson, P.G.P. et al. (2003Evolution, biogeography, and patterns of diversification in passerine birds ''J. Avian Biol'', 34:3–15.Selvatti, A.P. et al. (2015"A Paleogene origin for crown passerines and the diversification of the Oscines in the New World" ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'', 88:1–15. Passerines are divided into three clades: Acanthisitti (New Zealand wrens), Tyranni (suboscines), and Passeri (oscines or songbirds). The passeri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Podoces
The ground jays or ground choughs belong to a distinct group of the passerine order of birds in the genus ''Podoces'' of the crow family Corvidae. They inhabit high altitude semi-desert areas from central Asia to Mongolia. Ground jays show adaptations to ground living such as long, strong legs adapted to fast running and the ability to leap and bound onto boulders and rocks with great agility. Their long, curved thick bills are adapted for digging and probing. While capable of flight (which they do infrequently and relatively weakly), they prefer running, and will readily perch on trees and bushes also. Species list The ground tit (''Pseudopodoces humilis''), previously Hume's ground jay, has changed its placement within the Passeriformes recently because of molecular and osteological testing. It has now been placed into the Paridae The tits, chickadees, and Titmouse, titmice constitute the Paridae, a large family of small passerine birds which occur mainly in the Northern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magpie
Magpies are birds of the Corvidae family. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent creatures, and is one of the few non-mammal species able to recognize itself in a mirror test. They are particularly well known for their songs and were once popular as cagebirds. In addition to other members of the genus '' Pica'', corvids considered as magpies are in the genera '' Cissa'', ''Urocissa'', and ''Cyanopica''. Magpies of the genus ''Pica'' are generally found in temperate regions of Europe, Asia, and western North America, with populations also present in Tibet and high-elevation areas of Kashmir. Magpies of the genus ''Cyanopica'' are found in East Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. The birds called magpies in Australia are, however, not related to the magpies in the rest of the world. Name References dating back to Old English call the bird a "p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calocitta
The magpie-jays are a genus, ''Calocitta'', of the family Corvidae (crow-like birds) native to the southern part of North America. Sometimes placed in the genus ''Cyanocorax''. The two known species are known to form hybrids. The genus was introduced in 1841 by the English zoologist George Robert Gray with the white-throated magpie-jay (''Calocitta formosa'') as the type species. The name ''Calocitta'' combines the Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ... ''kalos'' meaning "beautiful" and ''kitta'' meaning "jay". Species The genus contains two species. References External links * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1991429 Calocitta Taxa named by George Robert Gray ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyanocitta
''Cyanocitta'' is a genus of birds in the family Corvidae, a family which contains the crows, jays and magpies. Established by Hugh Edwin Strickland in 1845, it contains the following species: The name ''Cyanocitta'' is a combination of the Greek language, Greek words ''kuanos'', meaning "dark blue", and ''kitta'', meaning "jay". References External links * * Cyanocitta, Bird genera Taxa named by Hugh Edwin Strickland {{Corvidae-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piapiac
The piapiac (''Ptilostomus afer'') is an African bird in the crow family, and is the only member of the genus ''Ptilostomus''. According to recent findings, it is most closely related to the Central Asian ground jays. Taxonomy In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the piapiac in his ''Ornithologie'' based on a specimen collected in Senegal. He used the French name ''La pie du Sénégal'' and the Latin ''Pica Senegalensis''. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his ''Systema Naturae'' for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the piapiac. Linnaeus included a brief de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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