Enter the enchanting world of the White-tailed Jay, a creature of ethereal elegance amidst the treetops of Central and South America.
The white-tailed jay (Cyanocorax mystacalis) is a species of bird in the family Corvidae. It is found in Ecuador and Peru. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest. It exhibits no sexual dimorphism.it forages in the open on beetles, ants, and other insects, with a vocal repetitive hollow call.
Distribution and Habitat: White-tailed Jays are Ecuadorian and Peruvian natives with a range that stretches in Ecuador from Guayas – a coastal province in central western Ecuador, the adjacent El Oro (the southernmost of Ecuador’s coastal provinces) and south – –away from the coast – into the province of Loja.
In Peru, Ecuador’s neighbor to the south, their range extends down to western La Libertad located in northwestern Ecuador.
In Ecuador, they are most common in Guayaquil (the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador), in the Chongon Colonche Range (a mountain range on the central Pacific coast), and along the first part of the highway west towards the coastal city of Salinas (located in the Province of Santa Elena, which previously was part of the Guayas Province).
They are generally absent from humid areas, favoring dry woodlands, desert-like scrub, and cactus-dominated desert vegetation. These birds are found up to elevations of 4,000 feet (~ 1200 meters) but are most common below 1,640 feet (500 meters).
Diet and Feeding: White-tailed Jays feed on a wide range of insects and other invertebrates, as well as on acorns and various cereal grains.
They will also take meat and human scraps, as opportunities arise. They mostly forage on the ground and in the open,
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