White-throated Magpie-Jay

How to find it

Start with open fields with scattered trees in Guanacaste, which are common and reliable for magpie-jays. Listen first, because noisy groups are easy to locate by sound. Watch for birds flying low one behind another, with those long tails showing. In Las Catalinas, groups move through the town's trees and over its paths near Plaza Danta and the beach almond trees, and they are easy to find there. For the dry forest, early morning and late afternoon are the advised times, and mid-day is slow.

How to recognise it

Look for a large blue and white jay with a very long, stepped tail. The tail is more than half of the bird's total length, so the silhouette is hard to mistake.

The field marks, in short:

Crest: long feathers that curl forward.

Face and underparts: white.

Back: grey-blue.

Bill and legs: black.

Adults: a thin black band across the chest and black marks at the sides of the neck.

Young birds look fluffier, with a short crest and a weak chest band, and their upperparts are duller and greyer than an adult's. Across the species' range, males and females differ a little: females have blacker crests and slightly shorter tails, while males have whiter crests.

Behaviour and diet

Magpie-jays travel in noisy, loosely spread groups of about 5 to 10 birds. A group is made up of females with one or two males, plus young under two years old. They hop between branches and fly low over paths while foraging, often one behind another.

Breeding is cooperative, with several adults tending one bulky stick platform high in a tree, 6 to 30 m up. Studies in Costa Rica found that in some groups, helper females also lay eggs in the main nest or build secondary nests. Across the range, groups mob observers and are not easily approached.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it is found from the lowlands up to about 800 m, and sometimes reaches 1,200 m along the northern mountain ranges. It is not found in the Central Valley.

It uses thorny scrub, savanna trees, groves near houses, streamside trees, and deciduous and gallery forest. Across its range it prefers dry, open country such as dry forest and mixed grassland and woodland, and it also uses forest edges, farmland and areas near people.

It is a common resident of the northern Pacific slope, reaching the Orotina and San Mateo area, and occasionally Carara National Park. Eastward it reaches about Brasilia, in the northwest Caribbean slope.

When to see it

At Las Catalinas, August is described as the post-breeding season, when family groups stay together and young birds are more active and vocal. One tour source gives December to April, the dry season, as the best time to visit Lomas de Barbudal, where this jay is listed.

Similar birds

Across the species' range it is mostly confused with the Black-throated Magpie-Jay, which looks very much like it. The two meet around Jalisco, Mexico, so this is not a confusion you will face in Costa Rica.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rican sources list the common names as Piapia azul, Urraca and Urraca copetona. At Las Catalinas, Guanacaste, the name Urraca Hermosa Cariblanca is used, though most people simply say Urraca.

Status and conservation

Resident (R) on the AOCR list, and Least Concern with the IUCN, staying in its range year-round without migrating.

Photography tips

A Costa Rican photographer says the birds are common in the north Pacific but hard to photograph well, because they are very hyperactive and do not come close easily. He got his shot when a noisy group approached near sunset. Early morning and late afternoon are the advised times in Guanacaste's dry forest.