Western Bird Guide: Birds of the Rockies and West to the Pacific

by Charles K. Reed

WOODHOUSE JAY.

480. Aphelocoma woodhousei. 12 inches.

These birds are abundant in the Great Basin between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas, breeding in scrubby trees or bushes at low elevations and usually near some stream. They have the crown and forehead bluish, and the under parts are gray, streaked with a darker shade on the breast. Their food consists of acorns and a variety of insects.

Nest.—This is usually of small sticks, loosely arranged, with smaller twigs and roots for a lining. Four to six eggs, of a pale green, faintly spotted with shades of brown (1.20 × .90).