Jaybirds Mix It Up in Colorado

Dr. James J. S. Johnson

Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.   (Genesis 6:20)

As my recent blogpost on Corvid hybrids illustrates [see blogpost reference below], birds feel no obligation to conform to taxonomist classifications of “genus” and/or “species” — because they limit their gene pool activities to the created “kind” categories that God gave to them, from the beginning, on Day # 5 of Creation Week (see Genesis 1:21), when God made different kinds of “winged fowl”.  And, it follows likewise, that real-world corvids likely reject modern speculations (by “natural selection” advocates) that appear in public wearing the term “speciation”.

Accordingly, it should not shock us to learn that hybrids are observed where the Blue Jay and Steller’s Jay ranges overlap, in America’s Great West.

Hence, this limerick:

Caveat, Taxonomists:  Jaybirds Mix It Up in Colorado!

In Western pines, before my eyes 

A jaybird perched, to my surprise  

Yet its front, wings, head, and back 

Were feathered blue, not much black

Wow!  Western jaybirds hybridize! 

(Birder’s take-away lesson:  don’t take terms like “species” and “speciation” too seriously.)

See recent blogposts:  “Ravin’ about Corvid Hybrids:  Something to Crow About”, posted at https://leesbird.com/2018/11/07/ravin-about-corvid-hybrids-something-to-crow-about/ .