Sichuan Jay
Perisoreus internigrans
Sooty jay with a dark head and a bright yellow bill. Unlike many other jays, tends to be quiet and unobtrusive. Usually seen foraging in pairs or small family units. Glides across openings in the forest. Generally uncommon and local; frequently difficult to locate. No other corvid in the region combines a long tail, dark gray body, and yellow bill. Inhabits dense, mature coniferous forest in foothill valleys, high-altitude slopes, and flat areas.
Taxonomy
It is one of three members of the genus Perisoreus, the others being the Siberian jay, P. infaustus, found from Norway to eastern Russia, and the Canada jay, P. canadensis, restricted to the boreal forest and western montane regions of North America. All three species store food and live year-round on permanent territories in coniferous forests.
- Scientific name
- Perisoreus internigrans
- Authority
- (Thayer & Bangs, 1912)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Corvidae
- Genus
- Perisoreus
Range and habitat
Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
They are mostly situated in isolated fragments of highly elevated coniferous forests on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau of west-central China. These locations are generally isolated, because of the mountainous terrain of the region. However, it is predicted that both of the extent of suitable habitat and the suitability of that habitat will decrease substantially under climate change. Climate change might force these birds to migrate northward and upward, where areas remaining for such compensatory extension are quite restricted. In addition, acceptable habitat will become much more disconnected, which may increase the negative effects of climate change indirectly by slowing, or halting gene flow and accelerating the rate of extinction of fragmented local populations.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
Iceland Gull
Larus glaucoides
Pale, medium-sized gull, smaller and daintier than Glaucous or Herring Gulls. Often looks cute with rounded head and small bill. Extremely variable plumage. Variation is apparently clinal across the Arctic breeding range, from darkest in the west to palest in the east. The palest adults have very pale gray backs and nearly pure white wingtips. The darkest birds, formerly known as Thayer’s Gull, are darker gray above and have blackish wingtips. Young birds range from almost pure white to medium brown, never as dark as Herring Gull. First-year birds usually have a mostly dark bill. Winters along both coasts of North America and in Europe, often near the ocean or on large lakes. Typically found in small numbers among flocks of other large gulls.
Rufous-capped Warbler
Basileuterus rufifrons
Attractive, perky, long-tailed warbler widespread in foothills and highlands, locally in lowlands. Favors brushy and weedy areas adjacent to woodland and scrub. Usually in pairs or small groups which hop around low in brush with tails cocked. Note white eyebrow, rusty cap, and yellow bib. Birds in southeast Mexico and Belize are extensively yellow below. Listen for its buzzy trills and chips, usually given in a multi-parted series. Once considered conspecific with Chestnut-capped Warbler.
Cocoa Woodcreeper
Xiphorhynchus susurrans
Warm brown bird with buffy streaks on head and breast; hitches up tree trunks. Generally longer tailed and longer billed than a woodpecker. Very similar to many other species of woodcreepers. Focus on bill: long, fairly thick, and almost straight; generally pale grayish with fleshy tones, but darker on top edge. Listen for song, a long series of clear whistled notes fading slightly at the end. Found in wooded habitats, often in more open forest, edge, or second growth.
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