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Jay

Bird

Bird

  • Podoces
  • Perisoreus
  • Aphelocoma
  • Gymnorhinus
  • Cyanocitta
  • Cyanocorax
  • Cyanolyca
  • Coloeus
  • Corvus
  • Crypsirina
  • Cyanopica
  • Dendrocitta
  • Nucifraga
  • Pica
  • Platysmurus
  • Ptilostomus
  • Pyrrhocorax
  • Temnurus
  • Urocissa
  • Zavattariornis

Jays are a paraphyletic grouping of passerine birds within the family Corvidae. Although the term "jay" carries no taxonomic weight, most or all of the birds referred to as jays share a few similarities; they are small to medium-sized, usually have brightly coloured feathers and short tails, and are quite noisy. These superificial characteristics set them apart from most other corvids such as crows, ravens, jackdaws, rooks and magpies, which are mostly larger, or longer-tailed, and have darker plumage. Many so-called "jays" are genetically closer to these other corvids than other jays, however. The name 'jay' is onomatopoeic, based on the harsh call of the species originally so named, Garrulus glandarius.

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. The black magpies, formerly believed to be related to jays, are classified as treepies.

Old World ("brown") jays

ImageGenusLiving species
[[File:A Jay With A Peanut (113365691).jpeg175px]]*Garrulus* Brisson, 1760 - 'typical' jays
[[File:Podoces panderi 387879466.jpg175px]]*Podoces* Fischer von Waldheim, 1821 - Ground jays

Grey jays

ImageGenusLiving species
[[File:Perisoreus canadensis mercier2.jpg175px]]*Perisoreus* Bonaparte, 1831 - Grey jays

New World jays

ImageGenusLiving species
[[File:Aphelocoma insularis Bouton 2.jpg175px]]*Aphelocoma* Cabanis, 1851 - Scrub-jays
[[File:Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus1.jpg175px]]*Gymnorhinus* Wied-Neuwied, 1841
[[File:Bluejay (Cyanocitta cristata) (1547) - Relic38.jpg175px]]*Cyanocitta* Strickland, 1845
[[File:Cyanocorax luxuosus calling.jpg175px]]*Cyanocorax* F. Boie, 1826
[[File:Turquoise jay.jpg175px]]*Cyanolyca* Cabanis, 1851

In culture

Slang

The word jay has an archaic meaning in American slang meaning a person who chatters impertinently.

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. The term began to imply recklessness or impertinent behavior as the convention became established.

In January 2014, the 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.

References

References

  1. (May 2005). "Inter-generic relationships of the crows, jays, magpies and allied groups (Aves: Corvidae) based on nucleotide sequence data". [[Journal of Avian Biology]].
  2. "Jay". freedictionary.com.
  3. (26 October 2024). "Definition of Jay by Merriam-Webster". Merriam-Webster, Inc..
  4. (28 August 2024). "Definition of Jaywalker by Merriam-Webster". Merriam-Webster, Inc..
  5. {{OED. jay-walker
  6. (2 January 2014). "Writer lobbies for new word to describe jays". Vancouver Courier.
  7. (6 January 2014). "British Ornithologists' Union: What say ye countrymen to a jabber of jays?". Community News.
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corvidae bird-common-names
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