Aphelocoma californica in Seattle cropped🐦‍⬛

Photo: Aphelocoma_californica_in_Seattle.jpg: Minette… · CC BY-SA 2.0

SpeciesPasseriformesCorvidae
Birds

🐦‍⬛California Scrub Jay

Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839)

The California scrub jay is a species of scrub jay native to western North America. It ranges from southern British Columbia throughout California and western Nevada near Reno to west of the Sierra Nevada. The California scrub jay was once lumped with Woodhouse's scrub jay and collectively called the western scrub jay. IUCN and the Handbook of the Birds of the World maintain this lumped taxon. The group was also lumped with the island scrub jay and the Florida scrub jay; the taxon was then called simply scrub jay. The California scrub jay is nonmigratory and can be found in urban areas, where it can become tame and will come to bird feeders. While many refer to scrub jays as "blue jays", the blue jay is a different species of bird entirely.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos
1
Measurements
12
vs you
≈ 1/720th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2025.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
0.09 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
16 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the California Scrub Jay

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.09 kg
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 0.09 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Tail length
0.14 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.13 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.03 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.04 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
16 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
18 days
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Litter size
about 4
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Omnivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Shrubland
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Terrestrial
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
0.1 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for California Scrub Jay yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

More

More about the California Scrub Jay

In other languages
西丛鸦 (zh), Gaio-da-califórnia (pt), Aphelocoma californica (ca), Geai buissonnier (fr), Aphelocoma californica (it), Rietumu krūmu sīlis (lv) … and 20 more languages
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