Western Scrub Jay

The western scrub jay is found through most of California, except the eastern deserts of Southern California, Nevada, Utah, most of Colorado, large parts of New Mexico, the north and eastern parts of Arizona, small portions of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming and Texas and down into Mexico. The scrub jays below, other than the last one, were photographed in Joshua Tree National Park.

The head, wings and tail are blue and the back is a pale brown. The underparts are pale gray.


They are found in foothills, oaks and junipers.

They are frequent visitors to our backyard in Redlands. In fact, our cat Sparrow, seemed to have somewhat of a love affair with one. The scrub jay would land on some furniture on our back covered patio and the cat was inside staring out the sliding glass window. They would sit and stare at each other for minutes at a time on a daily basis.

This scrub jay was photographed in a back yard in Redlands.