In the dry scrubs of Florida lives the majestic Florida Scrub jay. With its beautiful colors and strong beak, it truly is a bird of prey. Today I will be telling you more about this fascinating avian.

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The Florida Scrub Jay can grow to be about a foot long at full growth. Their color is a mix of browns, greys and blues. This species has strong, black bills, a greyish, whitish throat, and a long, blue tail. Their bills have been adapted to break acorns, one of their favorite foods. The only other avian similar to the Florida Scrub Jay is the Blue Jay.

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Florida Scrub Jays live in the shade of oaks in the dry lands of Florida, known as scrubs. They nest in an open cup of twigs with a thick layer of roots on a small, dense shrub. The scrubs are a harsh, drought ridden area with plenty of small animals for them to eat and have adapted to their environment quite well.

 

In 1993 there were 8000 Florida Scrub Jays. How ever, that number decreased by 25% and now there are only 6000 Florida Scrub Jays, making them vulnerable to endangerment. In an ongoing campaign to conserve the Florida Scrub Jay, people are trying to expand the scrubs by using controlled burns. Despite these protections, the Florida scrub jay is still vulnerable to endangerment. Its main predator is the Short Tailed Accipiter hawk.

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The Florida Scrub Jay  is a consumer. Its diet consists of tree frogs, lizards, insects, spiders,         berries and seeds. It’s main course however, is acorns. It can eat and cache 6000 to 800 acorns a year.         

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In conclusion, the Florida Scrub Jay is a very interesting bird. One of the things that I found surprising while researching the Florida Scrub Jay is that the only other avian like it is the Blue Jay. Unfortunately, this beautiful bird is vulnerable to endangerment. I think that we should support campaigns to help this bird remain for future generations to admire.

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Author:
Published: 02/2014

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Sources

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/florida_scrub-jay/id

http://www.fi.edu/fellows/fellow6/feb99/AboutScrubjay1.html

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22705629/0

Picture credit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Adult_Florida_scrub_jay.jpg