In 2023, a new wild hybrid bird species was documented in a suburb of San Antonio, Texas. The parent species, a Blue Jay and a Green Jay. The range of these two species currently barely overlaps, with just a small spot in southern Texas. It is believed that due to climate change, that the range overlap between the two has increased and is the reason behind the creation of this new hybrid. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that the Green Jays range extended into the southernmost part of the United States. At the same time, the Blue Jay, an eastern species, range started expanding westward, and with both of these range expansions, they only recently started to overlap.
This new hybrid was first noticed by a photo that was taken in a suburb near San Antonio, which showed a strange looking jay. This caught the attention of Brian Stokes, a biologist who is a Ph.D. candidate who is studying Green Jays in Texas. From there, he set up mist nets to try and catch the mystery bird. On the second day, he was successful in catching his target. From there, the bird was banded, a blood sample was taken, and the bird was then released.
From that blood sample, it was able to be determined that this strange bird was also a male, with a Green Jay mother and Blue Jay father. This is the second known hybrid of the two species, with the first being one that was produced in captivity in the 1970’s.
Its appearance from the one photo I have seen shows characteristics of both parent species with a lean towards more of the Blue Jay parentage than the Green Jay. Overall, this “Grue Jay” nicknamed from a mix of Blue and Green in their names, is mostly a diluted blue, with white markings on its wing and white tips to its tail feathers. Its belly looks white, another homage to its blue Jay parentage but lacks the black barring on the wings and tail seen in the Blue Jay. Like both parents, it has a bold facial pattern, a bold black mask with blue markings above and below the eye and a blue throat. The bill appears to look more like a Green Jays, as well as its facial markings. It also appears that the hybrid has a slight crest.
With climate change affecting the ranges of so many species, it will be interesting to see what hybrids start popping up in new overlapping ranges.
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Original Article:
https://cns.utexas.edu/news/research/so-what-should-we-call-grue-jay