Mexican Jay

Aphelocoma wollweberi

We formerly knew this bird as the Gray-Breasted Jay. Mexican Jays will extend their range north of the Western Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico into southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.

Taxonomist recognise four subspecies of Mexican Jay:

• A. w. arizonae lives in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, and south to Sonora and Chihuahua (Mexico).
• A. w. wollweberi lives in central Mexico from Sinaloa and Chihuahua south and east to Jalisco and Zacatecas.
• A. w. couchi lives in southwestern Texas and northern Mexico.
• A. w. potosina lives in eastern Mexico.

The population in the Eastern Sierra Madre Mountains (A. w. couchii) reaches north to the Big Bend area of Texas. There are distinct differences in the two groups we find in the southern USA. They can be separated by egg color and voice.

I found all the Mexican Jays pictured in this gallery in southern Arizona. Some lived in the Huachuca Mountains, and some were in the Santa Rita Mountains. All the birds pictured are members of the subspecies A. w. arizonae.