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Black-throated Jay | Cyanolyca pumilo
Zwartkeeldwerggaai | Chara de niebla
The Black-throated Jay is a small, dark blue jay with a black face and throat that lives in humid montane forest from Chiapas to Honduras. Groups move through the canopy and are often heard before they are seen.
Voice
Loud, somewhat nasal calls and a dry rattle, used by groups to keep in contact.
Recording: Bill Pyle — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
24–26 cm, including the fairly long tail. Plumage dark violet-blue. Forehead, face and throat black, bordered above by a narrow pale line. Bill and legs black. Sexes alike.
Confusion species
Azure-hooded Jay Cyanolyca cucullata is larger and has a pale blue hindcrown and nape. Steller's Jay Cyanocitta stelleri is larger and has a prominent crest. Bushy-crested Jay Cyanocorax melanocyaneus is larger, has a black head and breast extending onto the underparts, and a yellow eye.
Habitat
Humid cloud forest and pine-oak forest in the mountains, mostly in forest with many epiphytes. It forages in pairs or small groups in the middle and upper levels for insects and other invertebrates, often with mixed flocks of other birds.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Chiapas in southern Mexico, the highlands of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. The entire range lies within the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Usually detected by the calls of groups moving with mixed flocks through epiphyte-rich montane forest.
Conservation status
Not threatened, but locally tied to montane forest that is declining in parts of the range.
Scientific name
Cyanolyca pumilo | (Strickland, 1849)
Strickland described the species in 1849 as Cyanocorax pumilo; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Cyanolyca was introduced in 1851 by Cabanis. Cyanolyca is Greek, from kuanos 'dark blue' and lukos, a crow-like bird (perhaps the jackdaw) in Aristotle and Hesychius. pumilo is Latin for 'dwarf', after its small size for a jay. The specimen the first description was based on came from Guatemala (not specified).