scrub jay

noun

: any of several crestless jays (especially Aphelocoma californica of the western U.S. and Mexico and A. coerulescens of Florida) typically of scrub or chaparral that have a blue head, tail, and wings and a brownish back

Examples of scrub jay in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Thanks to the foresight of conservationists, that’s not the case here at Duette, where endangered habitats and animals, like the Florida scrub jay and its synonymous Florida scrub, are actually rebounding. —Ryan Ballogg, Miami Herald, 29 Feb. 2024

Among the likely birds in Sacramento: house finch, mourning dove, crow, cedar waxwing, scrub jay, mockingbird, sparrow, goldfinch, junco and woodpecker. —Debbie Arrington, Sacramento Bee, 31 Jan. 2024

For example, the island scrub jay is larger than jays on the mainland, likely because of an abundance of food and the absence of predators. —Robert Annis, Travel + Leisure, 8 Oct. 2023

Instead, nature is found in the quiet moments: the blue scrub jay flitting from leaf to leaf outside your kitchen window; the water that makes up most of our bodies and responds to the lunar pull; the breath of air filling your lungs that was once rain. —Los Angeles Times, 3 Nov. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1923, in the meaning defined above