Green Jay
Here's a bird with a palette full of colors.
Jerry Poindexter is a carving judge and the author of Songbirds I and II (measured drawings, containing 50 patterns.) You can reach Jerry via e-mail at icarve@cet.com.
The green jay (Cyanocorax yncas) is an unmistakable and colorful bird with a short crest and long tail. It measures between 10 and 11 inches in length. The green jay is most common in Mexico and South America, where it has not been studied a great deal. The southwest Texas population north of the Rio Grande River prefers bushy thickets and citrus groves, where the birds consume insects and fruit. The reference for the pattern and painting notes are from study skins provided by Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington.
This article is from the Winter 2017 issue. For more information on our issues, check out our issues page.