The Florida Scrub Jay

The Florida Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) is a medium-sized, crestless jay with bright blue plumage on its head, wings, and tail, and a soft gray back, nape, and underparts. The throat and forehead are pale, while the bill, legs, and feet are black. Adults typically measure around 10–12 inches in length, with a wingspan of 13–14 inches. 

Unlike the more common blue jay, the Florida scrub jay has no crest and shows a cleaner color pattern. Juveniles have a brownish head and duller plumage, which changes to the striking blue and gray of adults within their first year. 

Once widespread across Florida’s ancient scrub habitats, the Florida scrub jay has suffered severe population declines due to habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation. Over 90% of Florida’s scrub habitat has been lost to development, agriculture, and fire suppression. 

The species was listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1987, granting it federal protections. Conservation measures have included habitat acquisition, prescribed burning to maintain suitable open scrub, and public education campaigns to reduce human disturbance. 

Despite these efforts, scrub jay populations continue to decline, with fewer than 10,000 individuals remaining.  

FWF Involvement:  

In 2025, the Florida Wildlife Federation joined Earthjustice and other partners to defend the species’ ESA protections and Charlotte County’s habitat conservation plan from a legal challenge that threatened to weaken conservation safeguards. 

Florida scrub jays face a combination of challenges that threaten their long-term survival. The most significant is habitat loss and fragmentation, as urban development, agriculture, and infrastructure projects have destroyed large portions of Florida’s scrub. Because scrub jays are sedentary and rarely disperse far from where they hatch, fragmented populations become isolated, reducing genetic diversity and making them more vulnerable to decline.  

Fire suppression is another major concern—without periodic burns, scrub habitat becomes overgrown and unsuitable for nesting and foraging. Human disturbance, such as intentional feeding, can alter natural foraging behaviors and increase the risk of predation, while free-roaming cats and other predators pose direct threats to nests and young. Without continued habitat protection, restoration, and active management, these pressures will continue to push Florida’s only endemic bird closer to extinction. 

Florida scrub jays are highly social and live in tight family groups. They are one of the few North American birds that practice cooperative breeding, where offspring from previous years, called “helpers”, stay with their parents to help raise younger siblings. 

Pairs typically remain together for life and defend their territories year-round. Scrub jays are curious and intelligent, often approaching humans closely in areas where they have become accustomed to people. They communicate with a variety of calls, including harsh scolds, whistles, and soft notes used between family members. 

Florida scrub jays are found only in Florida’s scrub ecosystems, which occur on ancient sandy ridges and coastal dunes. These habitats are dominated by low, shrubby oaks such as sand live oak, myrtle oak, and Chapman’s oak, with open sandy patches for caching acorns. 

Because they avoid tall, closed-canopy forests, they depend on periodic wildfires—or prescribed burns—to keep vegetation low and open. They are most common in the Lake Wales Ridge, Ocala National Forest, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and scattered patches of scrub along the Atlantic Coast. 

Florida scrub jays play an important role as seed dispersers, especially for oaks. Each fall, they collect and bury thousands of acorns in sandy soil to store for winter. Many of these acorns are never retrieved, allowing new oak seedlings to grow—helping maintain the scrub ecosystem. 

They also feed on insects, spiders, lizards, small frogs, and other invertebrates, making them an important part of the food web. Their reliance on fire-maintained habitat links their survival directly to broader ecosystem management efforts in Florida’s scrublands. 

Florida Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) 

Kingdom: Animalia – Includes all animals, excluding plants and single-celled organisms. 

Phylum: Chordata – Characterized by having a spinal cord. 

Class: Aves – Birds. 

Order: Passeriformes – Perching birds or songbirds. 

Family: Corvidae – Jays, crows, and ravens. 

Genus: Aphelocoma – A group of uncrested jays. 

Species: coerulescens – From Latin for “bluish,” referring to its plumage. 

Florida scrub jays are omnivores with a diet that changes seasonally. In fall and winter, acorns make up a large portion of their diet, supplemented by insects, small reptiles, fruits, and seeds during the warmer months. 

Their acorn-caching behavior is critical to their survival during times when insects and other prey are scarce. The caching also benefits the ecosystem by promoting oak regeneration and maintaining healthy scrub habitat. 

Florida scrub jays form long-term monogamous pairs, with breeding season typically running from March to June. Nests are built low in scrub oaks, constructed from twigs and lined with softer materials. 

Cooperative breeding is central to their life history—helpers (often the previous year’s offspring) assist in feeding nestlings, defending territory, and mobbing predators. Clutches usually contain 2–5 eggs, which are incubated for about 18 days. Fledglings leave the nest around 18 days after hatching but remain dependent on the family group for several weeks. 

Because scrub jays have low reproductive rates and strong site fidelity, loss of a territory or habitat patch can permanently eliminate a family group.