Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) [XC678441]
by from Shelley lagoons, Canada (call)
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) [XC691163]
by Greg Irving from Brookline, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States (call)
Subspecies
Genus closest to Gymnorhinus and Aphelocoma. Known to hybridize with Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri), and also with Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) and Green Jay (Cyanocorax yncas). Geographical variation rather weak and clinal, and semplei perhaps better subsumed in nominate. Further research is required.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
bromia Oberholser, 1921 - Southern Canada from eastern British Columbia east to Newfoundland, southern in USA from North Dakota to north-eastern Nebraska and central Missouri and, in east, to south-central Illinois, central Indiana, north-eastern Kentucky, north-eastern Tennessee and south-central Virginia.
cyanotephra Sutton, 1935 - From south-eastern Wyoming and Nebraska (except north-east) south through eastern Colorado, western Kansas and Oklahoma to northern Texas.
cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) - From southern Missouri, southern Illinois, south-western Indiana, western Kentucky, Tennessee (except extreme north-east), south-western Virginia and North Carolina south to south-eastern Texas, coastal Gulf of Mexico and central Florida.
semplei Todd, 1928 - Southern half of Florida (southern from Hillsborough and Osceola counties).