{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Speciesbox | name = Brown jay | image = Cyanocorax morio (Brown jay).JPG | image_caption = Adult bird.<br/>Aserrí, Costa Rica | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2020 |title=''Cyanocorax morio'' |article-number=e.T22705742A137751528 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22705742A137751528.en |access-date=1 October 2022}}</ref> | genus = Cyanocorax | species = morio | authority = (Wagler, 1829) | range_map = Cyanocorax_morio_map.jpg | range_map_caption = Range (click to magnify) | synonyms = ''Psilorhinus mexicanus''<br/> ''Psilorhinus morio'' }}
The '''brown jay''' ('''''Cyanocorax morio''''') is a large jay native to Central America and southern Texas.
==Taxonomy== The brown jay was formerly placed in its own genus ''Psilorhinus''. When molecular phylogenetic studies found that the genus ''Cyanocorax'' was paraphyletic relative to ''Psilorhinus'',<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Bonaccorso | first1=E. | last2=Peterson | first2=A.T. | last3=Navarro-Sigüenza | first3=A.G. | last4=Fleischer | first4=R.C. | date=2010 | title=Molecular systematics and evolution of the ''Cyanocorax'' jays | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=54 | issue=3 | pages=897-909 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2009.11.014| hdl=1808/6568 | hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1=McCullough | first1=J.M. | last2=Oliveros | first2=C.H. | last3=Benz | first3=B.W. | last4=Zenil-Ferguson | first4=R. | last5=Cracraft | first5=J. | last6=Moyle | first6=R.G. | last7=Andersen | first7=M.J. | date=2022 | title=Wallacean and Melanesian Islands Promote Higher Rates of Diversification within the Global Passerine Radiation Corvides | journal=Systematic Biology | volume=71 | issue=6 | pages=1423-1439 | doi=10.1093/sysbio/syac044 | doi-access=free }}</ref> ''Psilorhinus'' was subsumed into ''Cyanocorax'' to resolve the paraphyly.<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Crows, mudnesters, birds-of-paradise | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/crows/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=18 September 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Chesser | first1=R.T. | last2=Billerman | first2=S.M. | last3=Burns | first3=K.J. | last4=Cicero | first4=C. | last5=Dunn | first5=J.L. | last6=Hernández-Baños | first6=B.E. | last7=Jiménez | first7=R.A. | last8=Johnson | first8=O. | last9=Kratter | first9=A.W. | last10=Mason | first10=N.A. | last11=Rasmussen | first11=P.C. | last12=Remsen | first12=J.V.J. | date=2024 | title=Sixty-fifth Supplement to the American Ornithological Society's Check-list of North American Birds | journal=Ornithology | volume=141 | issue=3 | article-number=ukae019 | doi=10.1093/ornithology/ukae019 | doi-access=free }}</ref>
Three subspecies are recognised:<ref name=ioc/> * ''C. m. palliatus'' (Van Rossem, 1934) – extreme south Texas (south USA) and northeast, east Mexico * ''C. m. morio'' (Wagler, 1829) – southeast Mexico to west Panama * ''C. m. vociferus'' (Cabot, S, 1843) – north Yucatán Peninsula (southeast Mexico)
==Description== thumb|Subadult in Costa Rica Brown jays vary in plumage geographically: there are two main groups. Northern birds are almost completely dark brown, with lighter brown on the underparts. Southern birds are white-bellied and have bright white tips to the outer tail feathers. The intergrade zone is in Veracruz, Mexico. Adults in both populations have black bills, legs, and feet. Immatures have yellow bare parts, including yellow eye-rings.
The voice is a loud but low-pitched ''pee-ah'' call and is often modified to suit its situation or mood.
==Distribution and habitat== The northernmost extent of the brown jay is in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas close to the Mexican border; from Mexico it occurs south into Central America. in Mexico it occurs widely in the east and southeast. In Central America, it is widespread on the Gulf slope from Belize south to western Panama; it is scarcer on the Pacific slope, and in El Salvador is confined to the far northeast in Morazán Department close to the Honduras border.<ref name="iNat">{{cite web |title=iNaturalist - Brown Jay |url=https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?subview=map&taxon_id=8524 |website=iNaturalist |access-date=3 October 2024}}</ref>
==Behaviour and ecology== Food is sought largely in trees but brown jays also take some food from the ground. They are rather indiscriminate feeders. Insects and a wide range of other invertebrates are taken, also lizards, nectar, and fruit (e.g. that of ''Trophis racemosa'' in the Moraceae).<ref name=Foster /> Though they will take eggs and nestlings, they appear not to if there is plenty of other food available.
The nest is built in a tree or large shrub with both sexes helping in construction. There are normally three eggs laid but up to six is not unusual. Incubation is between 18 and 20 days. Only the female broods but the male feeds her while doing so.
Sometimes the offspring from a previous season will help in raising the chicks. If a helper bird returns with food, it will give it to one of the resident parents to feed the chicks.
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=Foster>{{cite journal |last=Foster |first=Mercedes S. |date=2007 |title=The potential of fruiting trees to enhance converted habitats for migrating birds in southern Mexico |journal=Bird Conservation International |publisher=BirdLife International |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=45–61 |doi=10.1017/S0959270906000554 |doi-access=free }}</ref> }}
==Further reading== {{refbegin}} *{{ cite book | last=Skutch | first=Alexander F. | author-link=Alexander Skutch | date=1960 | chapter=White-tipped brown jay | title=Life Histories of Central American Birds II | series=Pacific Coast Avifauna, Number 34 | location=Berkeley, California | publisher=Cooper Ornithological Society | chapter-url=https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/pca/pca_034.pdf#page=232 | pages=231–257 | ref=none }} {{refend}}
==External links== * {{InternetBirdCollection|brown-jay-psilorhinus-morio|Brown jay}} * {{VIREO|brown+jay|Brown jay}} * {{IUCN_Map|22705742|Psilorhinus morio}}
{{Corvidae}} {{Corvides|Co.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from1=Q2667717|from2=Q28872863}}
Category:Corvidae Category:Birds of the Rio Grande valleys Category:Birds of Mexico Category:Birds of Central America Category:Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Category:Birds of Belize Category:Birds of Guatemala <!--Gulf side only of Central America: not in El Salvador--> Category:Birds described in 1829 Category:Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN <!-- Psilorhinus morio -->