With their stunning bright blue eyeliner and meticulously stylized sideburns, these elegant jays look absolutely striking in their pale yellow and black suits. Allow us to introduce you to the Plush Crested Jay.
The plush-crested jay is a graceful bird of medium size that boasts black underparts, chin, throat, neck sides, and breast. Its underparts come in shades ranging from creamy-white to pale yellowish, with its under tail featuring graduated rectrices in the same colors with dark bases. The bird also has a unique appearance, with stiff feathers on its forehead that gradually transition into softer ones on its crown to create a velvety crest. Its forehead, crown, and head sides are black, while its eyes are surrounded by a radiant ultramarine crescent and a similar spot below the eye that blends into a V-shaped cyan-blue malar stripe. The nape is a pale ultramarine color that merges into pure ultramarine further down the neck. The bird’s bill is black, its eyes are yellow, and its legs and feet are black.
Young birds display a less vibrant nape, and their facial markings become visible only after a month has passed.
