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[[Image:PinyonJay.JPG]] '''Common Name:''' Pinyon Jay<br> '''Scientific Name:''' Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus '''Size:''' 10.2-11.4 inches (26-29 cm); '''Wingspan:''' 18.1 inches (46 cm) '''Habitat:''' North America; residents from central Oregon to western South Dakota, south to northern Baja California, northwestern and east-central Arizona, central New Mexico, and western Oklahoma. They winter throughout their breeding range and irregularly from southern Washington to northwestern Montana, and south to Mexico and central Texas. When pinyon seed crops are poor, pinyon jays may wander to central Washington, northwestern Oregon, northern Idaho, northwestern Montana, throughout the Great Basin, Nebraska, Kansas, central-western and southwestern California, southeastern Arizona, central Texas, and northern Chihuahua. It lives in foothills where pinyon-juniper woodland, sagebrush, scrub oak, and chaparral communities occur. '''Status:''' Vulnerable. '''Global population:''' Unknown population. Populations are declining due to the destruction of pinyon-juniper habitats to create grazing land for cattle. Changes in fire regimes has resulted in loss of many pinyon pines, threatening Pinyon Jay populations. '''Diet:''' Seed, fruit, berries and insects. The seed of the Pinyon pine is the staple food but they supplement their diet with fruits and berries. Insects of many types are also eaten and sometimes caught with its feet. '''Nesting:''' Sexes are alike. Adults are a bluish-grey color with deeper head coloring and whitish throat with black bill, legs and feet. Juvenile are uniformly dull gray in color with lighter beaks. Pinyon jays appear to form perennial, monogamous pair bonds that last an average of 2.5 years. The nest is always part of a colony but there is never more than one nest in a tree. Sometimes the colony can cover quite extensive areas with a single nest in each tree (usually juniper, live oak or pine). There are usually 3–4 eggs laid, quite early in the season. Incubation is usually 16 days. The male bird normally brings food near to the nest, and the female flies to him to receive it and take back to the nest to feed the chicks that fledge around 3 weeks later. Young are normally fed only by their parents, but once they reach near-fledging size they can sometimes receive a meal from any passing member of the colony, which can continue for some time after leaving the nest. '''Cool Facts:''' Pinyon Jay social organization is complex, with permanent flocks that may include more than 500 individuals. Many birds spend their entire lives in their natal flocks. Individuals that do disperse, usually females before they are one year of age, generally travel only short distances. Several birds always seem to act as sentries for the flock, watching out for predators while their companions are feeding. Pinyon jays have a symbiotic relationship with the pinyon. Pinyon trees provide pinyon jays with food, nesting and roosting sites, and breeding stimuli. Pinyon jays influence seed dispersal, establishment, and genetic structure of pinyon populations. Although omnivorous, the Pinyon Jay is committed to the harvest, transport, caching, and later retrieval of pine seeds. It is aided by a relatively long, strong bill; an expandable esophagus; and long, strong wings. Individuals have excellent spatial memories that allow them to find most of their hidden seeds months after caching, even through snow. Mated pairs of Pinyon Jays appear to coordinate their caching so that their cache locations are known to each other, especially the male. Although this behavior is difficult to observe in the wild, data from aviary observations and experiments confirm this arrangement. The Pinyon Jay's bill is featherless at its base (hence the name ''Gymnorhinus'' = bare nostrils). Nearly all other members of the family Corvidae have feathers covering their nostrils. The Pinyon Jay can probe deep into pitch-laden cones without fouling the feathers that would cover the nostrils of other jays. '''Found in Songbird Remix Woodland Jewels'''
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