How to Identify aWoodhouse's Scrub-Jay
Aphelocoma woodhouseii · 11–11.8 in (28–30 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Dull blue head, wings and tail with a gray-brown back patch, grayish underparts and an indistinct blue necklace. Sexes look alike.
Female
Identical to the male in the field.
Male photo: Peter Wallack / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Second photo: Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0
Field marks
- No crest, long tail
- Duller and grayer than a California Scrub-Jay, with a faint necklace
- Gray-brown saddle between blue wings
- Pale grayish underparts, not clean white
Similar species
What it sounds like
A harsh rising "shreenk", slightly lower and rougher than a California Scrub-Jay’s.
Behaviour that gives it away
Caches acorns and pinyon seeds by the thousand and relocates them months later by memory.
Habitat & range
Pinyon-juniper, oak scrub and dry woodland of the interior West.
When you'll see it
Present all year in western and southwestern North America.
What it eats
Acorns, pinyon seeds, insects, eggs and fruit.
Did you know?
It was split from the California Scrub-Jay in 2016, when the coastal and interior birds proved to differ in voice, plumage and behaviour.
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