Western Scrub-jay

The western scrub-jay is a non-migratory bird that lives in the western United States and Mexico. There are three subspecies of western scrub-jays, California, Woodhouse's, and Sumichrast's. The California subspecies lives allow the west coast. They usually have a thicker beak which is good for breaking up acorns. The Woodhouse's subspecies is found in the western interior of the US and northern Mexico while the Sumichrast's subspecies is found in the mountains of southern Mexico. These two subspecies have thinner beaks which help to get to the pine nuts inside of pine cones. The bird pictured above was photographed in Colorado which would make it a Woodhouse's western scrub-jay. All of the western scrub-jay's are very smart. They are a member of the Corvidae family which has some of the smartest birds on the planet. They plan for the future by caching food and can remember the locations of many different cache locations. They also are good at finding and stealing from the caches of other birds.

Jays

Jays are medium sized passerines that are part of the Corvidae family. They come in a variety of colors and are found through out the world. In North America we have 10 different types of jays in 5 different genus. Probably the most common of the North American jays is the blue jay. Blue jays are found in the eastern half of North America. They share the Cyanocitta genus with the Stellar's jay which is found in parts of western North America.
The genus Aphelocoma consists of three types of scrub jay as well as the Mexican jay. The western scrub-jay, pictured above is the most common scrub jay. It is found in the south western United States and parts of Mexico. The Florida scrub-jay is found only in Florida and the island scrub-jay is found on Santa Cruz Island off the coast of California.
Gray Jays are the only member of the Perisoreus genus found in North America. Their range includes Canada, Alaska, the northern United States and the Rocky Mountains. Living in the north these birds will often cache food to help them survive the winter months. They are very intelligent birds, as are most members of the Corvidae family, and very inquisitive. They are often referred to by the nickname camp robber.
The green jay is a member of the genus Cyanocorax. Their range includes parts of south eastern Texas and eastern Mexico. They can also be found in Central America and northwestern South America. In North America the only other jay found with in the same range as the green jay is the brown jay. Both are in the genus Cyanocorax but it is very easy to distinguish between them since the green jay is very colorful and the brown jay is mostly brown.