The beautiful jay (''Cyanolyca pulchra'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the crow and jay family

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, 13 ...

. It is closely related to the

azure-hooded jay The azure-hooded jay (''Cyanolyca cucullata'') is a species of bird in the family Corvidae. It is found in Middle America. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. This species is known to have four subspecies. It ...

, and the two species are considered sister species. The species is monotypic, having no

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

. The specific name for the beautiful jay, ''pulchra'', is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word for beautiful.dos Anjos, L. & de Juana, E. (2017). Beautiful Jay (''Cyanolyca pulchra''). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/node/60702 on 10 March 2017). It is found in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

, where its habitat includes humid montane forest and cloud forest. It can also be found around clearings and in secondary forest, but it is less common there. It often associates with watercourses and marshy areas within the forests. It ranges between above sea-level, but is most common between . The beautiful jay is long and in the male predominantly cyan-blue, becoming sky-blue almost to white from the neck to the forehead,. It has a black mask on the face meeting up with the dark -grey across the breast. The legs and bill are black. The female resembles the male but the upperparts have a brownish tinge, and juvenile birds have more brown on the plumage and are duller. It makes a range of

calls Call or Calls may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Call, a type of betting in poker * Call, in the game of contract bridge, a bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage Music and dance * Call (band), from Lahore, Paki ...

, including a repeated "chew=chew-chew", clicks and whistles. Little is known about the beautiful jay's behaviour. The species forages in the understory and is generally inconspicuous. Only one nest has been described so far, it is a cup constructed with sticks and decorated on the outside with moss and lined with thin plant fibres. The eggs are green with small brown blotches; in the only nest found so far the clutch size was two eggs. The chicks fledged 24 days after hatching. It is becoming rare due to

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

. The species is uncommon and dependent upon primary forest. It is also sensitive to disturbance.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q690706

beautiful jay The beautiful jay (''Cyanolyca pulchra'') is a species of bird in the crow and jay family Corvidae. It is closely related to the azure-hooded jay, and the two species are considered sister species. The species is monotypic, having no subspecies. ...

Birds of the Colombian Andes Birds of the Ecuadorian Andes

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot