Florida Scrub Jay Avon Park Air Force Range Outdoor Recreation

The Florida Scrub-Jay (FSJ) is the only bird species endemic (restricted) to Florida.
Status: Threatened
Restricted to scrub and scrubby flatwoods with fire intervals of 5-15years to maintain habitat quality. Overgrown scrub (20+ years postfire) becomes suboptimal for FSJ use; acorn production and open ground (used for caching acorns) decrease, tree density, nest predation and adult mortality increases.
Jays are omnivorous, eating both plant and animal material. Acorns cached in the fall are an important staple late winter to early spring. In early spring to fall, FSJ’s consume mainly arthropods (grasshoppers, bush crickets, caterpillars, spiders) but will also eat small vertebrates (tree frogs, lizards, small snakes) and blueberries.
This nonmigratory bird mates for life and maintains a permanent territory.
As a “cooperative breeder”, young from previous years stay in the territory to help their parents raise young, sentinel for predators, and defend the territory.
Nesting begins mid-February and lasts through the end of July.
The nest is build by both parents but only the female will incubate while the male brings her food.
Nests are built 0.5-2 meters high, usually in an oak. 1-5 light blue, rusty-brown flecked eggs are laid.
FSJ’s usually only have one brood, although some will attempt a second brood (lay eggs while young from the first are still alive) if conditions are right. If a nest is lost, jays will renest up to three times.
Incubation of eggs lasts 18 days, nestlings fledge at 18 days and are dependent upon their parents until they are about 3 months old. Dependent fledglings can be distinguished from adults by their fuzzy brown heads, while the adults have blue heads.
Predators of adults include: large snakes (indigo, coachwhip), sharp-shinned hawk, Cooper’s hawk, merlin, great horned owl, and bobcat. Predators of young include: small and large snakes, ants, northern harrier, red-tailed hawk, eastern screech-owl, great horned owl, blue jays, crows, bobcat, raccoon, gray fox, squirrel.

Recommended readings: Woolfenden, G.E. and J.W. Fitzpatrick. 1996. Florida Scrub-Jay (Alphelocoma coerulescens). In The Birds of North America, No. 228 (A. Poole and F. Gills, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, D.C.