Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

About the Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

The lanky, crestless blue jay of the juniper country. Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay wears dusty blue over a gray-brown back, with a long expressive tail and none of the Blue Jay's crest or white spangles - a leaner bird for a leaner landscape.

Until 2016 it was lumped with California's coastal scrub-jays as one species; the split gave the interior bird its own name, honoring the naturalist Samuel Woodhouse. In Texas it is the scrub-jay of the Trans-Pecos, the Panhandle breaks, and the western Hill Country, wherever juniper and oak scrub covers a slope.

Like all its family it is a planner: each fall a scrub-jay caches thousands of juniper berries, acorns, and pinyon nuts in scattered hiding spots, remembers a remarkable share of them, and re-hides caches if it notices another jay watching - evidence of something very close to theory of mind, from a bird that will also steal your granola.

They travel in pairs and family bands, announcing themselves with harsh, rising shreep calls, and their curiosity matches any titmouse's: sit still in a Davis Mountains campground and the local pair will come audit your gear within minutes.