Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) [XC412625]
by Alan Knue from Atascadero, California, Cerro Alto Campground, United States (call)
Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) [XC292470]
by Paul Marvin from Hurkey Creek Campground, San Jacinto Mountains, Riverside County, California, 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