Jay

For other uses, see Jay (disambiguation).

"Jay (bird)" redirects here. For other uses, see jay bird (disambiguation).

A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the crow family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For example, the Eurasian magpie seems more closely related to the Eurasian jay than to the East Asian blue and green magpies, whereas the blue jay is not closely related to either. The Eurasian jay distributes oak acorns, contributing to the growth of oak woodlands over time.

Jay
Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Superfamily:	Corvoidea
Family:	Corvidae
Genera
Garrulus Podoces Ptilostomus Perisoreus Aphelocoma Gymnorhinus Cyanocitta Calocitta Cyanocorax Cyanolyca

Systematics and species

Jays are not a monophyletic group. Anatomical and molecular evidence indicates they can be divided into a New World and an Old World lineage (the latter including the ground jays and the piapiac), while the grey jays of the genus Perisoreus form a group of their own.^[1] The black magpies, formerly believed to be related to jays, are classified as treepies.

Old World ("brown") jays

Image	Genus	Living species
	Garrulus Brisson, 1760	Eurasian jay, Garrulus glandarius Lanceolated jay, Garrulus lanceolatus Lidth's jay, Garrulus lidthi
	Podoces Fischer von Waldheim, 1821 - Ground jays	Mongolian ground jay, Podoces hendersoni Xinjiang ground jay, Podoces biddulphi Pleske's ground jay, Podoces pleskei Turkestan ground jay, Podoces panderi
	Ptilostomus Swainson, 1837	Piapiac, Ptilostomus afer

Grey jays

Image	Genus	Living species
	Perisoreus Bonaparte, 1831 - Grey jays	Siberian jay, Perisoreus infaustus Sichuan jay, Perisoreus internigrans Canada jay, gray jay, grey jay, or whiskeyjack Perisoreus canadensis

New World jays

Image	Genus	Living species
	Aphelocoma Cabanis, 1851 - Scrub-jays	Florida scrub-jay, Aphelocoma coerulescens Island scrub-jay, Aphelocoma insularis California scrub-jay, Aphelocoma californica Woodhouse's scrub-jay, Aphelocoma woodhouseii Transvolcanic jay, Aphelocoma ultramarina Mexican jay, Aphelocoma wollweberi Unicolored jay, Aphelocoma unicolor
	Gymnorhinus Wied-Neuwied, 1841	Pinyon jay, Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus
	Cyanocitta Strickland, 1845	Steller's jay, Cyanocitta stelleri Blue jay, Cyanocitta cristata
	Calocitta G.R. Gray, 1841 - Magpie-jays	Black-throated magpie-jay, Calocitta colliei White-throated magpie-jay, Calocitta formosa
	Cyanocorax F. Boie, 1826	Tufted jay, Cyanocorax dickeyi Black-chested jay, Cyanocorax affinis Green jay, Cyanocorax ynca Brown jay, Cyanocorax morio Bushy-crested jay, Cyanocorax melanocyaneus San Blas jay, Cyanocorax sanblasianus Yucatan jay, Cyanocorax yucatanicus Purplish-backed jay, Cyanocorax beecheii Purplish jay, Cyanocorax cyanomelas Azure jay, Cyanocorax caeruleus Violaceous jay, Cyanocorax violaceus Curl-crested jay, Cyanocorax cristatellus Azure-naped jay, Cyanocorax heilprini Cayenne jay, Cyanocorax cayanus Plush-crested jay, Cyanocorax chrysops White-naped jay, Cyanocorax cyanopogon White-tailed jay, Cyanocorax mystacalis
	Cyanolyca Cabanis, 1851	Black-collared jay, Cyanolyca armillata Turquoise jay, Cyanolyca turcosa White-collared jay, Cyanolyca viridicyana Azure-hooded jay, Cyanolyca cucullata Beautiful jay, Cyanolyca pulchra Black-throated jay, Cyanolyca pumilo Dwarf jay, Cyanolyca nana Silvery-throated jay, Cyanolyca argentigula White-throated jay, Cyanolyca mirabilis

In culture

Slang

The word jay has an archaic meaning in American slang meaning a person who chatters impertinently.^[2][3]

The term jaywalking was coined in the first decade of the 1900s to label persons crossing a busy street carelessly and becoming a traffic hazard.^[4] The term began to imply recklessness or impertinent behavior as the convention became established.^[5]

In January 2014, Canadian author Robert Joseph Greene embarked on a lobbying campaign among ornithologists in Europe and North America to get Merriam-Websters Dictionary to have a "Jabber of Jays" as an official term under bird groups.^[6][7]