Unknown bird, possibly another species of starling
Any suggestions?

Martin Kramer

mkramer@wxs.nl
http://home.wxs.nl/~mkramer/


Comments
========
Jay of some sort... probably one of the Cyanocorax species... the color
scheme is very similar to the Green Jay only in blues - wonder if there's a
blue mutation of Green Jays? LOL Possible, I suppose. I can't find any
other bird matching that particular color scheme. White-Tailed Jays are
similar, but the patches of color on the face are white, not blue, and the
white on the top of the head doesn't extend as far forward. Also, of course,
they have white feathers in their tail.

Lara


Comments
========
I think that this bird is a Shrike.

Comments
========
there is a species of scrub jay that is crestless and blue
but they usually reside in Florida

Comments
========
The bird is certainly a Green Jay. It just appears
bluish due to the photo.

Comments
========
can you give some thing that i can put in my animals home pages
for my school project.

Comments
========
I think it may be a type of finch, though the bill is not
quite finch-like. I still think, though, it may be a type
of finch.


Comments
========
i think it is some form of green jay. could a green jay have
reproduced a kind of blue, green jay? it could be one of
those weird pigmey and albino type mistakes.


Comments
========
This is definitely a Cyanocorax jay. It resembles the white-tailed jay
as suggested by an earlier respondent. however as pointed out by that
person there are certain characteristics that don't match and this species
has been reported to be fairly monotypic across its range. The green jay
is also very similar and can be quite variable in plummage characteristics
across its range. Some races have been reported to have a bluish sheen to
the feathers on the wings, back and tail. The strange part in this picture
though is the snow white underparts...most (all?) green jays have some type
of yellow underparts. Maybe this is a mutation or possibly this jay could
be a hybrid between a green jay and another Cyanocorax species like the
white-tailed jay that occurred while in captivity. Was this a wild bird?


Comments
========
The answer is obvious! it's a crow in drag.

Comments
========
The bird up above resembles the Blue-Warbler. My son & I looked through
our bird files and that is what we saw. hope it is helpful.
Sincerely
Bonnie

Comments
========
Whatever species this bird is, I think it is an albino version.
Is that possible?
Bonnie


Comments
========
I think it's either a mutation or a hybrid. I don't know
anything about their behavior or the differences between
species, but a lot of other animals interbreed between the
species in their genus and have young. It's also possible,
but not likely, that this IS a new species. Every time
scientists think they found all of them, another pops up.
The most reasonable explanation, to me, would be that this
is a mutation.
Trish

Comments
========
This bird is certainly a Blue Magpie (Cyanopica Cyanus).


Comments
========
I have commented on this bird before, but I thought I would add some
further information. I suggested that it was possibly a blue mutation
of the Green Jay, Cyanocorax yncas. I still think I was right. I ran
across a photo of a bird that looked just like this one in the book
"Breeding Birds", by David Alderton. The bird was labeled as an "Inca
Jay". Looking up "Inca Jay" in the book "Crows & Jays" by Steve Madge
and Hilary Burn, I discovered that the term is used to describe a group
of subspecies of the Green Jay - none of which lack the characteristic
yellow belly. But a blue mutation removes all yellow pigment from the
feathers, which turns green to blue and yellow to white. Furthermore,
both blue-colored jays in both the photos were captive birds, so it is
my suggestion that there is a blue mutation being bred in the captive
population of Green Jays, which isn't at all far-fetched. And certainly
the colors and patterns on the bird in this photo would lead me to
believe that this is a photo of a blue Green Jay.