Ecobirder: green jay

Showing posts with label green jay. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Green Jay

The green jay is a resident of Mexico, Central and northern South America. The Mexican and Central American population is separated from the South American population and differ in size, color and call. It is possible that in the future it may be discovered that they are actually separate species or at least different subspecies.

Green jays typically prefer riparian thickets and other dense forested areas in humid climates. The exception to this is in south Texas. South Texas is the only place in the United States where green jays can be found. In Texas they inhabit mesquite thickets, native scrub and open park lands. These birds where photographed in Texas at the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge and Bentsen State Park respectively.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Green Jay

The green jay is a bird that is native to tropical areas of the Americas. They are found primarily in Mexico, Central America and Northern South America. The range of the green jay extends up into the US only in south Texas. Green jays live in family units. The young adults from previous broods stick around and help their parents defend the territory. In Texas usually these offspring are kicked out of the territory after about a year. In South America offspring may stay with their parents for several years.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Green Jay

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Jays

Jays are medium sized passerines that are part of the Corvidae family. They come in a variety of colors and are found through out the world. In North America we have 10 different types of jays in 5 different genus. Probably the most common of the North American jays is the blue jay. Blue jays are found in the eastern half of North America. They share the Cyanocitta genus with the Stellar's jay which is found in parts of western North America.

The genus Aphelocoma consists of three types of scrub jay as well as the Mexican jay. The western scrub-jay, pictured above is the most common scrub jay. It is found in the south western United States and parts of Mexico. The Florida scrub-jay is found only in Florida and the island scrub-jay is found on Santa Cruz Island off the coast of California.

Gray Jays are the only member of the Perisoreus genus found in North America. Their range includes Canada, Alaska, the northern United States and the Rocky Mountains. Living in the north these birds will often cache food to help them survive the winter months. They are very intelligent birds, as are most members of the Corvidae family, and very inquisitive. They are often referred to by the nickname camp robber.

The green jay is a member of the genus Cyanocorax. Their range includes parts of south eastern Texas and eastern Mexico. They can also be found in Central America and northwestern South America. In North America the only other jay found with in the same range as the green jay is the brown jay. Both are in the genus Cyanocorax but it is very easy to distinguish between them since the green jay is very colorful and the brown jay is mostly brown.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Javelina - Martin Refuge

What turned out to be probably our favorite location during our Texas trip, and probably the most productive, was a small private refuge near Mission Texas called the Javelina. The Javelina is about 300 acres of native Texas scrub habitat. It is owned by the Martin family and is the original home of private nature photography in the Rio Grande Valley.

Seven photo blinds are positioned through out the property with a dirt road winding between them. Three of the blinds are set up to get morning sun, three are more for the afternoon and one is all purpose. We started out in the raptor blind, pictured above in the morning.

As we got settled into the blind Patty Raney, photographer and our Certified Interpretive Guide for the day deposited chunks of meat and body parts that she had obtained from some of the local taxidermists. Soon after Patty left us the raptors started to come in to feast.

Northern caracara made up the bulk of the raptors that visited the area to feed. We did see and photograph caracara at other parks that we visited but none were as close up and personal as at the Javelina. Most were adults like the one two photos up but there were also some juveniles, like the one pictured above, mixed in.

Although the caracara had numbers the obvious bosses of the area were the Harris hawks. When they flew in to feed the caracara were quick to get out of their way. Harris hawks often nest and hunt in social units consisting of multiple birds. There was one unit consisting of 3 adults and one juvenile that appeared to rule this territory. When a group of about 8 turkey vultures begin to circle over head it was probably the presence of the Harris hawks that deterred them from coming in to feed.

After lunch we moved to an afternoon blind to photograph song birds and Texas specialties. These blinds are built sunken into the ground so that you can photograph the smaller birds at eye level. With a watering hole located near each blind and seed and meal worms supplied by Patty we were ready to get some good shots of some of the Texas specialty birds.

It did not take long before the birds came to check out the food. The first birds in were northern cardinals. Even though we snapped a few pics we were not all that excited because cardinals are pretty common in Minnesota. However the next bird that came into view where a species that has never, at least to my knowledge, been seen in Minnesota. Green jays are not known for being inhibited and as such they took over a lot of the feed for most of the time that we were there.

At our first afternoon blind the northern cardinals kept chasing away the smaller pyrrhuloxia from where the food was located in front of the blind. Since I was a lot more interested in getting pictures of pyrrhuloxia, a life bird for me, then of northern cardinals we decided to try a different afternoon blind. The second blind worked much better.

That afternoon we photographed great kiskadee, long-billed thrasher, white-tipped doves, common ground dove, plain chacalaca, pyrruloxia, green jays and olive sparrows, pictured above, all of which were life birds on that trip.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Laguna Atascosa

For our first full day in Texas we decided to head over to the Laguna Atascosa NWR. The Laguna Atascosa boasts a bird list that includes 413 different species, which is more then any other wildlife refuge in the United States.

The first thing we did was to head over to the visitors center to pick up our bird list, map and other important info. We also brought a few oranges with since they do accept citrus donations, which they put out for some of the more tropical birds.

Around the visitors center they have several feeding stations as well as photo blinds where people can get a good look at many of the south Texas specialties as they feed and bathe.

One of the most popular of the south Texas specialties is the green jay. There were quite a few of these birds around enjoying the citrus and seeds that were provided at the feeders. South Texas is the only place in the US where you can see green jays.

After spending some time photographing the birds at the blinds and feeding station we decided to take a tram tour of the refuge. The tour took us out on the Bayside Drive which goes through much of the eastern portion of the park.

Bayside Drive took us out to the shore of the Laguna Madre, the salty bay that divides Padre and South Padre Islands from the mainland. The Laguana Atascosa was designated a refuge in 1964. Its purpose was to help preserve habitat for wintering waterfowl, particularly the redhead duck. About 80 percent of the worlds redhead duck population winters in the refuge area.

We did not see many redhead ducks, it was a bit late in the season and many of the waterfowl had already begun their migration north, but we did see other birds enjoying the waters of the Laguana Madre. Birds like white pelican and osprey, pictured above, where having good luck fishing in the salty waters.

One of the major types of habitats that can be found on the refuge is the thorn forest. These track can contain over 200 different varieties of thorn bush and provides critical habitat to the many different animals and birds including the endangered ocelot. There are less then 30 ocelots living on the refuge and this is the majority of the US population.

Other animals also enjoy the solace of the thorn forest. The rattle snake takes advantage of the protection of the thorns when it comes out to get some sun, which it needs to help regulate its body temp. This was the only rattle snake that we spotted on our trip. The shot is not very good, because it was pretty well hidden in the vegetation, but I was not about to go rearrange things to get a better pic.

Birds also take advantage of the thorn forests. Even though most of the plants have sharp thorns or leaves to protect themselves many birds have figured out ways around the defence mechanisms. Since the yucca trees were in bloom while we were there many of the birds were taking advantage.

Besides the thorn forests and the wetlands most of the rest of the refuge is grasslands. A lot of the area that is now grasslands was once used by the military as an aerial gunnery and bombing range during World War II. Some of the ammunition supply bunkers and building foundations still exist on the refuge.

Now the grasslands is home to many different animals and birds. Rodents thrive in the area which brings in predators like snakes and raptors. Sometimes, however, the prey is too large for any of the predators. Such is the case with the wild pigs that roam the refuge rooting up plants. The ancestors of these pigs were either released or escaped from neighboring farms and have become feral over the years and generations. They typically weigh around 100 to 150 pounds but in some cases they have been found to reach weights of over 400 pounds. The refuge works hard to manage the population so that they do not over run the entire refuge.