The Nest and Eggs of Turquoise Jay Cyanolyca Turcosa
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Cotinga 37 Short Communications The nest and eggs of nest on his approach. It left the intact forest were less than 100 m Turquoise Jay Cyanolyca area silently and appeared to from the nest. Rainfall is relatively turcosa join a flock of conspecifics c.50 m aseasonal, but similar to the The genus Cyanolyca includes away. Twenty minutes later, an nearby Papallacta area, November 8 nine species of large colourful adult returned to the nest, again being among the drier months . corvids distributed from Mexico to silently, and settled there after We found a second nest on 16 Bolivia, reaching their maximum feeding a small prey to a tiny March 2013 along the narrow, diversity in Middle America1,12,14. nestling not visible over the rim unpaved road into the Pululahua The distribution and taxonomy of of the nest. We made no further Crater, Pichincha prov., north-west Cyanolyca jays is relatively well observations at this nest until we Ecuador (00°04’N 78°30’W; 2,050 understood1,2,12 but information returned a month later to collect m). At 15h00, an adult flushed on their natural history is sparse, and measure it. This nest was from the nest, skulked silently in with nests described for just four centrally located in a sparsely nearby vegetation and then left species3,9,17,19. leaved, 13 m-tall Weinmannia the area. We observed two eggs in Turquoise Jay C. turcosa tree (Cunoniaceae), 10 m above the nest using a mirror. Periodic inhabits humid, montane forests the ground. It was a bulky cup, observations during the rest of and forest borders (1,500–3,500 easily visible from the ground, the afternoon and the subsequent m) in south-west Colombia, both and supported by five small (2–4 morning revealed that incubation Andean slopes in Ecuador, south cm branches), which sprouted was underway, but we never to northern Peru1,4,13–16. It is from the trunk. It was nearly observed more than one adult closely related to Black-collared identical in composition to the nest approaching the nest at any given Jay C. armillata and White- described in more detail below, time. The flock of conspecifics to collared Jay C. viridicyanus2, and similarly well lined with pale which the adult(s) attending the and all three taxa were formerly brown, flexible rootlets. Externally, nest belonged rarely spent more considered conspecific5. To date, the bulky, cup-shaped nest was than a few moments in the vicinity nests of Turquoise Jay have been 24–28 cm in diameter and 15 cm of the nest, and vocalised little mentioned several times in the tall. The neat, inner cup was 11 cm except when > 30 m from the nest. literature, but its nest and eggs wide and 9 cm deep. The nest tree Once the incubating adult joined have not been described1,11. Based was in a forest gap, surrounded the flock as it passed the nest, but on observations in northern by dense Chusquea bamboo, with generally the bird arrived and left Ecuador, we present detailed its crown (and the nest) fairly while no other jays were in the descriptions of two nests and one isolated, being c.10 m from the vicinity. Interestingly, although we clutch of eggs. nearest vegetation. Habitat in the could not confirm this, we suspect The first nest was found by J. area surrounding the nest was individuals from the same flock of Simbaña on 28 November 2012 fragmented, extremely humid jays may have also been attending at Guango Lodge, Napo prov., cloud forest typical of this region, a second nest near the canopy of north-east Ecuador (00°22’S with a 20–30 m-high canopy and a densely foliated tree, just 50 m 78°12’W; 2,700 m). He observed an understorey dominated by from the studied nest. a single adult flush from the bamboo. However, large tracts of The second nest was a bulky, externally untidy cup of green moss and twigs (Fig. 1). The twigs were mostly 10–15 cm long and 3–4 mm in diameter, and some bore spines. They were mixed into the mostly moss exterior, and appeared to provide structural integrity to the otherwise loosely packed moss. Internally the cup was thickly lined with flexible fibres and rootlets, most of which were pale whitish or light brown (Fig. 2). Externally the nest was slightly asymmetrical, measuring 27 cm in diameter at its widest point and 23 cm at its narrowest. It was 12.5 cm tall outside and the internal cup was 10 cm wide and 8 cm deep internally. The two eggs were very fresh, and showed no signs of development Figure 1. Nest of Turquoise Jay Cyanolyca turcosa, Pululahua Crater, Pichincha prov., when held up to a light. They were Ecuador, 16 March 2013 (Harold F. Greeney) very pale blue (almost white), 52 Cotinga 37 Short Communications detailed discussion, suffice to say that nests of Turquoise Jay studied here are very similar to the nest and eggs of Beautiful Jay C. pulchra described by Solano- Ugalde et al.17 and Laufenberg & Woodward10. Instead, we review previously published breeding records for Turquoise Jay. Fjeldså & Krabbe4 reported ‘juveniles’ in September in north-west Ecuador, November and February in north-east Ecuador, June in south-east Ecuador, and May in north-west Peru. Even though they provided no indication of the age of these birds, in other instances they refer to ‘fledglings’ and presumably these records were of individuals Figure 2. Complete clutch of eggs in nest of Turquoise Jay Cyanolyca turcosa, no longer attended by adults and Pululahua Crater, Pichincha prov., Ecuador, 16 March 2013 (Harold F. Greeney) thus probably 1–2 months out of the nest. Greeney et al.8 reported adults feeding fledglings in July flecked with small, pale brown and were under construction, two at in north-east Ecuador, whereas lavender markings, more densely an elevation of 2,300 m and one Greeney et al.7, found nests with distributed at the larger ends, at 2,200 m. Two nests appeared eggs or nestlings in October and which also bore several narrow, to be just beginning and one December in south-east Ecuador. black scrawls (Fig. 2). The eggs nearly complete. They were In north-west Ecuador, Greeney measured 33.5 × 23.5 mm and placed in multiple forks of small & Nunnery6 found a nest under 32.9 × 23.2 mm, and weighed 9.8 branches, centrally located in the construction in May and one with g and 9.4 g, respectively. The nest crowns of isolated trees beside nestlings in June, and Welford was precariously saddled over roads or landslides. Two were in et al.18 reported a nest with a nearly level branch, c.4–5 cm Melastomataceae, and one was in nestlings (parasitised by cowbirds) in diameter, and supported by an unidentified tree with a similar, in February. Together with the three smaller branches (1–2 cm open-branched architecture. The nests reported here, these records diameter), which passed through nests were 16 m, 9 m and 13 m provide a preliminary indication the external parts of the nest above the ground in 18 m, 9.5 m of the reproductive seasonality and held it in place. It was 6 m and 14 m-tall trees, respectively. for Turquoise Jay in Ecuador, above the ground in a 9 m-tall, All were predominantly and suggest that most breeding spiny Barnadesia (Asteraceae) constructed of moss and they in north-west Ecuador probably tree. The nest was sited directly appeared to be similar to the nests occurs during the wetter months above the infrequently used road, described above, but we were (December–May). Conversely, c.2.5 m from the trunk and 1.5 m unable to examine them closely. although the breeding period may from the tip of the branch. It was At all three nests there were three be more protracted in eastern poorly concealed by the sparse adults in their vicinity. At two Ecuador, it appears that this vegetation surrounding the nest, nests, however, we observed only species prefers to nest during the and clearly visible from most a single bird bringing moss. At drier months in both the north and angles. Habitat in the area was the third nest we clearly observed south (September–January). The fragmented, seasonally humid three individuals adding material. single described nest of Beautiful cloud forest, with a partially At one nest, which seemed fairly Jay from north-west Ecuador17 grazed understorey dominated by early in the building process, two follows this wet-season pattern, Chusquea bamboo. March is one adults aggressively approached but further breeding records for of the wetter months in this area, a Plate-billed Mountain Toucan these and other Cyanolyca are similar to the nearby Tandayapa Andigena laminirostris that needed to test the robustness of 6 Valley . perched 15 m from the nest. They this apparently geographically In addition to these nests, on emitted loud vocalisations and disjunct pattern of reproductive 20 December 2008, at Bellavista flew to within 2 m of the toucan, seasonality in Ecuadorian jays. Cloudforest Reserve, above chasing it from the area after Tandayapa, Pichincha prov., several minutes. Acknowledgements north-west Ecuador (00°15’N Since few nests of other HFG thanks Field Guides Inc., 78°38’W), HFG observed three Cyanolyca jays have been John V. & the late Ruth Ann active nests (cf. MacLean11). All described, we refrain from a Moore, Matt Kaplan, Margy 53 Cotinga 37 Short Communications Green, the PBNHS, the Population Gelis, R. A., Miller, E.