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Silvery-throated Jay | Cyanolyca argentigula
Zilverkeelgaai | Chara gorjiplateada
The Silvery-throated Jay is a small, deep blue jay with a black mask and a silvery white throat that lives only in the high mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama. Groups move through the oak forest and cloud forest high in the Talamanca.
Voice
Various harsh, nasal calls and a dry rattle, used by groups to keep in contact.
Recording: Jorge Gabriel Campos — 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 deep violet-blue. Forehead and mask around the eye black. Throat silvery white to pale grey, sharply set off against the black face and blue breast. Bill and legs black. Sexes alike.
Confusion species
Azure-hooded Jay Cyanolyca cucullata has a black throat and a pale blue hindcrown and nape, and usually lives lower on the mountain slopes. Brown Jay Cyanocorax morio is much larger, brown and lives mainly in lower, open country.
Habitat
Oak forest, cloud forest and montane rainforest high in the mountains, also forest edges and clearings with tall trees. It forages in pairs or small groups in the middle and upper levels for insects, other invertebrates and fruit, 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
The Cordillera Central and the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica and the mountains of western Panama in Chiriquí. The entire range lies within the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Regularly seen around Cerro de la Muerte and in the San Gerardo de Dota valley in Costa Rica, often in groups moving through the oak forest with other montane birds.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The range is small but lies largely within protected montane forest.
Scientific name
Cyanolyca argentigula | (Lawrence, 1875)
Lawrence described the species in 1875 as Cyanocitta argentigula; 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. argentigula is Latin, from argentum 'silver' and gula 'throat', after the silvery-white throat. The specimen the first description was based on came from near Pico Blanco, Talamanca, Costa Rica.