Crested jay

Platylophus galericulatus

Photo by Johannes Pfleiderer (Internet Bird Collection)

Common name:
crested jay (en); gaio-de-poupa (pt); geai longup (fr); arrendajo crestado (es); haubenhäher (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Corvidae

Range:
This species is found in southern Thailand and Malaysia, and in the Indonesian islands of Borneo, Java and Sumatra.

Size:
These birds are 31-33 cm long and weigh 80-115 g.

Habitat:
The crested jay is mostly found in lowland primary rainforests, also using tall secondary forests and mountain rainforests. They occur from sea level up to an altitude of 1.800 m.

Diet:
They feed on various invertebrates, including caterpillars and millipedes.

Breeding:
Crested jays breed in June-March. The nest is a solid cup made of twigs and lined with fine fern strips, placed on a secondary branch of small tree, about 2 m above the ground. There the female lays 1-2 dirty white to light blue-green eggs with reddish-brown spots. There is no information regarding the incubation and fledging periods.

Conservation:
IUCN status - NT (Near-Threatened)
This species has a very large breeding range and is considered locally common. The population is suspected to be declining at a moderately rapid rate due to current rates of deforestation within their range, mainly because of illegal logging, land conversion for agriculture and forest fires. The magnitude of these threats may be allayed by the tolerance that crested jays show for hill and sub-mountain forests, which are under less pressure from logging and agricultural conversion.