Island Scrub-Jay

This species of scrub-jay is one of the rarest birds that I could ever blip, at least in North America--it's holding an acorn, its main food. The Island Scrub Jay is endemic to Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the Channel Islands off the coast of southern California. The two other species of scrub-jay are the Western Scrub-Jay, which is found throughout much of the Western U.S., and the Florida Scrub-Jay, endemic to Florida. We have seen the latter two, but today's was a new life bird for us.

The Island Jay is larger than the other two species, its blue plumage is darker and it has a relatively large bill--developed doubtless to better handle the acorns it feeds on; it mainly frequents oak groves.

We were on a day-long outing, on a boat from Ventura CA. The Channel Islands National Park comprises the five islands in the archipelago, and the Nature Conservancy owns part of Santa Cruz. The islands host over 2,000 plant and animal species, of which 145 are found nowhere else in the world, include this jay. The largest mammal on the islands is also unique--the Island Fox, which we saw as well. It was a wonderful outing--well organized and our guides were superb (especially Jean :)