CORVID CONSERVATION CORPS
ISLAND SCRUB-JAY
Scientific name: Aphelocoma insularis
Range: Restricted to Santa Cruz Island. Perhaps formerly occurred on Santa Rosa Island.
Habitat: Primarily in scruboak-dominated chaparral and in oak woodland.
Status: Recent estimates suggest only about 2,000 individuals.
Threats/Outlook: The species’ limited range makes it vulnerable to threats such as fire and disease. Climate change could be an issue, since the birds raise fewer young in drought years. Restoring habitat on Santa Cruz, and possibly introducing the species to Santa Rosa, could boost its resilience.
THE BIRD FLARES BLUE AS GAS FLAME. It seems to dive, not fly: Two flaps, a tuck tilting to full fall, all grace and faith and then the sure catch of its wings rocketing it up, before another plunge lands it swaying on a branch.
It’s an Island Scrub-Jay, cousin of the California Scrub-Jays common at mainland feeders, but found only here, on Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the eight Channel Islands off Southern California. The azure bird has white brows, a gray vest, and a broken V striped across its white breast like a shirt collar. It scolds the three women who have summoned it on this January afternoon—PASHPASHPASH!—like a dapper old man grumpily demanding dinner.
THERE’S NO SHORTAGE OF PLACES THAT NEED HELP. JUST
