Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) [XC356718]
by Guy Kirwan from Mount Laguna, Noble Canyon trail, San Diego County, California, United States (call)
Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) [XC898842]
by from Kanarraville, Iron County, Utah, United States (call)
Subspecies
Genus closest to Gymnorhinus and Aphelocoma. Occasionally hybridizes with Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata). Subspecies suavis intergrades with lazula; latter poorly differentiated, possibly better merged with ridgwayi. Subspecies teotepecensis and ridgwayi subsumed in coronata by some taxonomists.
The following 16 subspecies are recognised:
stelleri (Gmelin, 1788) - Southern Alaska and coastal British Columbia south to north-western Oregon.
carlottae Osgood, 1901 - Queen Charlotte Is (off British Columbia).
annectens (Baird, SF, 1874) - Rocky Mts of interior British Columbia and south-western Alberta (Canada) southern in USA to eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon and Wyoming.
frontalis (Ridgway, 1873) - Central Oregon south through mountains to eastern California and west-central Nevada.
carbonacea Grinnell, 1900 - Northern California (counties of Marin, Contra Costa and Monterey).
macrolopha Baird, SF, 1854 - Southern Rocky Mts from south-western South Dakota south to Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, east to Nebraska and western Texas, and south to northern Mexico (northern Sonora and Chihuahua).
diademata (Bonaparte, 1850) - Sierra Madre Occidental from south-eastern Sonora and south-western Chihuahua south to Durango and Jalisco. Also eastern Nuevo León.
phillipsi Browning, 1993 - Central Mexico (south-central San Luis Potosí).
purpurea Aldrich, 1944 - South-central Mexico (northern and central Michoacán).
coronata (Swainson, 1827) - Eastern Mexico (south-eastern San Luis Potosí and northern Veracruz south to Puebla).
azteca Ridgway, 1899 - West-central Veracruz south to México, Morelos and western Puebla.
teotepecensis R. T. Moore, 1954 - Mountains of southern Mexico (central and southern Guerrero).
restricta Phillips, AR, 1966 - Oaxaca, in southern Mexico.
ridgwayi W. deW. Miller and Griscom, 1925 - Highlands of south-eastern Mexico (Chiapas) and adjacent Guatemala.
lazula van Rossem, 1928 - El Salvador and south-western Honduras.
suavis Miller, W & Griscom, 1925 - Highlands of eastern El Salvador, Honduras and northern Nicaragua.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet