{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Speciesbox | name = Green jay | image = Green jay (Cyanocorax luxuosus) in Mission, Texas, USA.png | image_caption = ''Cyanocorax luxuosus glaucescens'' in Mission, Texas; note the greenish underparts and dark eye | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International. |year=2017 |amends=2016 |title=''Cyanocorax yncas'' |volume=2017 |article-number=e.T22705738A118810850 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22705738A118810850.en |access-date=29 September 2025}}</ref> | genus = Cyanocorax | species = luxuosus | authority = (Lesson, R. P., 1839) | synonyms = | range_map = Cyanocorax luxuosus map.svg }}
The '''green jay''' ('''''Cyanocorax luxuosus''''') is a species of New World jay, found in southern Texas, Mexico, and northern Central America. Adults are about {{convert|27|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and are variable in color across their range; they usually have blue and black heads, green wings and mantle, bluish-green tails, black bills, yellow or brown eye rings, and dark legs. The basic diet consists of arthropods, vertebrates, seeds, and fruit. The nest is usually built in a thorny bush; the female incubates the clutch of three to five eggs. This is a common species of jay with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".
==Taxonomy== left|thumb|''Cyanocorax luxuosus maya'' in Quintana Roo, Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico; note the brighter yellow underparts and yellow eye Seven subspecies are accepted; listed from north to south:<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> *''Cyanocorax luxuosus glaucescens'' – Southern Texas, northeast Mexico *''Cyanocorax luxuosus luxuosus'' – East-central Mexico *''Cyanocorax luxuosus speciosus'' – Western Mexico *''Cyanocorax luxuosus vividus'' – Southwestern Mexico *''Cyanocorax luxuosus maya'' – Yucatán Peninsula *''Cyanocorax luxuosus confusus'' – Southeastern Mexico to western Guatemala *''Cyanocorax luxuosus centralis'' – Honduras
It differs from the related Inca jay of the Andes most obviously in lacking the large nasal bristles that form a distinct tuft at the base of the bill in that species, and also tends to show more blue on the rear crown.<ref name=Hoyo>{{cite book |last1=del Hoyo|first1=Josep |title=All the birds of the world |date=2020 |publisher=Lynx Edicions |location=Barcelona |isbn=978-84-16728-37-4 |page=561}}</ref> Despite its separation from the Inca jay by a 1,600 km range gap, some ornithologists treat the green jay and Inca jay as conspecific, with the green jay as ''C. yncas luxuosus'' and the Inca jay as ''C. yncas yncas''.<ref name=hbw>{{cite web | last=dos Anjos| first=L. | year=2018 | title=Green Jay (''Cyanocorax yncas'') | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher=Lynx Edicions | url=http://www.hbw.com/node/55804 | access-date=16 May 2018 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor-last1=Dickinson | editor-first1=E.C. | editor1-link=Edward C. Dickinson | editor-last2=Christidis | editor-first2=L. | editor2-link=Leslie Christidis | year=2014 | title=The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World | volume=2: Passerines | edition=4th | place=Eastbourne, UK | publisher=Aves Press | isbn=978-0-9568611-2-2 | pages=240–241 }}</ref>
===Hybrids=== A hybrid between green jay and the only distantly-related blue jay ''Cyanocitta cristata'', given the portmanteau name "grue jay", has been documented in southern Texas where the ranges of the two species meet.<ref name="Stokes">{{Cite journal |last=Stokes |first=Brian R. |last2=Keitt |first2=Timothy H. |date=2025-09-10 |title=An Intergeneric Hybrid Between Historically Isolated Temperate and Tropical Jays Following Recent Range Expansion |journal=Ecology and Evolution |language=en |volume=15 |issue=9 |article-number=e72148 |doi=10.1002/ece3.72148 |issn=2045-7758 |pmc=12422867 |pmid=40936599 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Press1">{{Cite web |last=Airhart |first=Marc |date=2025-09-18 |title=So What Should We Call This – a Grue Jay? |url=https://cns.utexas.edu/news/research/so-what-should-we-call-grue-jay |access-date=2025-12-07 |website=The University of Texas at Austin |language=en}}</ref>
==Description== Green jays are {{convert|25|–|29|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length. Weight ranges from {{convert|66|to|110|g|oz}}.<ref name=allaboutbirds/> They have feathers of yellowish-white with blue tips on the top of the head, cheeks and nape. The breast and underparts range from bright yellow in the south (e.g. ''C. l. maya'' in the Yucatán) to pale green in the north (e.g. ''C. l. glaucescens'' in Texas). The upper parts are rich green. The color of the iris depends on the subspecies, ranging from dark brownish in the north to bright yellow in the south.
==Behavior== Green jays feed on a wide range of insects and other invertebrates and various cereal grains. They take ''Ebenopsis'' seeds where these occur, and also acorns of any oak species, which they will cache. Meat and human scraps add to the diet when opportunity arises. Green jays have been observed using sticks as tools to extract insects from tree bark.<ref name=sora/>
===Breeding=== Green jays usually build a nest in a tree or in a thorny bush or thicket, and the female lays three to five eggs. Only the female incubates, but both parents take care of the young.<ref name=allaboutbirds/>
===Voice=== As with most of the typical jays, this species has a very extensive voice repertoire. The bird's most common call makes a ''{{not a typo|rassh-rassh-rassh}}'' sound, but many other unusual notes also occur. One of the most distinctive calls sounds like an alarm bell.
==Distribution and habitat== The green jay occurs from southern Texas to Honduras. The similar Inca jay has a disjunct home range in the northern Andes of South America.
==Status== The green jay is a common species throughout most of its wide range. It is an adaptable species and the population is thought to be increasing as clearing of forests is creating new areas of suitable habitat. No particular threats have been identified, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".<ref name=IUCN />
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=allaboutbirds>{{Cite AllAboutBirds|Green jay|access-date=20 March 2013}}</ref> <ref name=sora>{{cite journal |first=Douglas C. |last=Gayou |url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v094n04/p0593-p0594.pdf |title=General Notes: Tool use by Green Jays |journal=Wilson Bulletin |volume=94 |issue=4 |year=1982 |pages=593–594}}</ref> }}
==External links== {{Commons category|Cyanocorax yncas}} {{Wikispecies|Cyanocorax yncas}} * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20020427222203/http://www.bird-stamps.org/cspecies/18901200.htm Green jay stamps]}} from Belize and Venezuela at {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/19990428065259/http://www.bird-stamps.org/ bird-stamps.org]}} * {{BirdLife|22705738|Cyanocorax yncas}} * {{Avibase|name=Cyanocorax yncas}} * {{InternetBirdCollection|green-jay-cyanocorax-yncas}} * {{VIREO|green+jay}} * {{NeotropicalBirds|grnjay|Green jay}} * {{IUCN_Map|22705738/118810850|Cyanocorax yncas}} * {{Xeno-canto species|Cyanocorax|luxuosus|Green jay}} * {{field guide birds of the world|Cyanocorax yncas}}
{{Corvidae|3}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q918078}}
green jay Category:Birds of the Rio Grande valleys Category:Birds of Mexico Category:Birds of Belize Category:Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Category:Birds of the Northern Andes Category:Tool-using animals green jay Category:Taxa named by René Lesson Category:Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN <!-- Cyanocorax luxuosus -->