Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about scrub jays and their relatives. There are currently seven species of jays classified in the “scrub jay” genus. Most of them are referred to as scrub jays, such as the Western, Florida, Island, and Woodhouse’s scrub jays, however, the Transvolcanic, Unicolored, and Mexican jays in the same genus are simply referred to as jays. Today we’ll focus on the genus as a whole, including the not so scrubby bois.

Scrub jays and their relatives are considered “New World” jays and are thus natively found living in North and Central America. Most scribs jays live along the western side of the United States and Canada, however one species in particular, the Florida scrub jay, is found, unsurprisingly, in Florida! This is the only instance of a scrub jay species found along the east coast. If you think you’ve seen a scrub jay, but you live on the eastern side of the United States, it was likely a blue jay you saw. Though, speaking of blue jays, scrub jays are about equivalent in size to blue jays - minus the crest. Scrub jays don’t have crests.

As the name implies, scrub jays are fond of scrubby habitats. Scrub habitats are mostly made of low lying vegetation. Florida scrub jays specifically need this kind of environment to thrive. Where they live, scrub is often produced through natural brush fires, however, humans have intervened to reduce the amount of naturally occurring fires and scrub habitats have grown into fuller forests which aren’t as suitable for the Florida scrub jays. As a specialized species, because their habitats are decreasing, so are their populations, but other scrub jay species can thrive in different environments. Some live in woodlands, grasslands, deserts, and swamps. Many scrub jay species especially like oak forests because they love to eat acorns! Besides acorns, scrub jays eat pine nuts, eggs, insects, lizards, seeds, nectar and more. They’ll also cache their food like ravens - I mean, they’re technically related!

Many scrub jays die within their first year or two of life as this is a treacherous time for young, vulnerable birds. Even if they are able to survive this tumultuous time, most don’t live past five; but there are some outliers who have been known to reach almost two decades in age! Often the biggest threats to scrub jays come in the form of predators which can include hawks, owls, eagles, raccoons, squirrels, snakes, bobcats, and more; however, many scrub jay species have lots of protection while they’re young!

Most of the scrub jays species are considered cooperative breeders. This means that a couple will have helpers tend to the nest and the season’s babies. These helpers are usually offspring from a previous breeding season and often share the same parents with the newest group of chicks. Scrub jay helpers don’t incubate or brood the young, but they do help defend the territory and feed the developing babies. On average, there are two to six eggs in a scrub jay nest, and it’s the mama who does the incubation. After about two and a half weeks the eggs will hatch and the babies will fledge after another three weeks. It’s likely they’ll stick around for at least a year to help raise their siblings the following year. (like beavers) In scrub jays, breeding occurs March through June. In non-cooperative scrub jay species in which the juveniles don’t hang around to help out, such as with the western scrub jay, it’s typical for a couple to raise only a single nest, though if they lose their first they may build a second. In these non-cooperative species, the young leave their parent’s range within their first year and travel in roving flocks until the next breeding season at which point they’ll settle down with a partner.

For more facts on scrub jays, check out the links in the description. Thank you to our friend Secora for today’s request. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.