scrub jay

American  

noun

1. a crestless jay, Aphelocoma coerulescens, of the western and southern U.S. and Mexico, having blue and grayish plumage.

---

Etymology

Origin of scrub jay

An Americanism dating back to 1935–40

Example Sentences

They include the black bear, Western scrub jay, California flannel brush, California bumble bee, California halibut, Northern elephant seal, Dungeness crab, California bay tree, Western spadefoot toad, and the endangered black abalone.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 9, 2023

But separate bills in the state House and Senate would elevate the blue-headed scrub jay to the honorary post.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 5, 2021

A professor at Cambridge, she has built her career around the remarkable behavior of the scrub jay, a small blue-black bird that stores food for later.

From New York Times • Jul. 9, 2021

And the birds — the wrentit, the scrub jay, the sage sparrow — taking flight to . . . where exactly?

From Washington Post • Nov. 16, 2018

In the past hour Franzen, 47, who's a pretty hard-core bird watcher, has already spotted California quail, some towhees, a scrub jay, a flicker and a few acorn woodpeckers.

From Time Magazine Archive