Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) [XC691163]
by Greg Irving from Brookline, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States (call)
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) [XC122442]
by Paul Marvin from San Antonio, Bexar, Texas, 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).