Green Jay - Ross Feldner

While the Blue Jay is a familiar character, the Green Jay is not. This week we go almost south of the border. The Green Jay’s US range is limited to southern Texas where it can be seen in refuges and parks such as the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.

Green Jays are easy to find with their flashy bright green, yellow and blue plumage and raucous noise making. They share traits with other jays and even crows, as versatile foragers that are happy to pounce, glean, pick, catch insects on the wing and raid picnic tables for scraps.

Green Jays live in pairs within social groups and communicate with each other with a strange variety of calls.

As with most of the typical jays, this species has a very extensive vocal repertoire. The bird's most common call makes a rassh-rassh-rassh sound, but many other unusual notes also occur. One of the most distinctive calls sounds like an alarm bell!