The Story
This Green Jay (Cyanocorax yncas) was photographed at Villa de Aurora near Dapa, in the hills above Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, at about 1,980 meters. In the Andes it has rich green upperparts, bright yellow underparts, a black bib reaching up the sides of the head, and a bright yellow eye. In Spanish it is widely called querrequerre, a name that echoes its call. Its most common call is a harsh rassh-rassh-rassh, but it has many other notes. The western Colombian birds belong to the subspecies galeatus. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I photographed it with a Canon R5 and the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L, at 1/750 sec, f/6.7, ISO 3200, −1 EV. Cali, Yumbo, La Cumbre and Dagua have committed to conserving the San Antonio–Km 18 Key Biodiversity Area, its forest and its water sources.
©2023 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Green Jay (Cyanocorax yncas) belongs to the family Corvidae (Crows, Jays, and Magpies) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List