Audubon Scrub Jays
Crew leader Carina Motta with UC Santa Barbara holds up the nearest mainland species next to a taxidermied specimen of island scrub jay. Island living has helped island scrub jays evolve in different ways from their land-based cousins. A few of the differences being an overall larger and more robust body and stouter beak and more intense colors. The bird on the left is an island scrub jay. The bird on the right the California species.