Appearance

The Beautiful Jay is a typical Cyanolyca : it is a medium-sized, dark blue jay lacking a crest, but with a black mask on the face. The Beautiful Jay is a rare and poorly known species, restricted to humid montane forests on the west side of the Andes in Colombia and northwestern Ecuador.

The blue of the Beautiful Jay is dark, much darker than is typical of other Andean species of Cyanolyca: Black-collared Jay (C. armillata), Turquoise Jay (C. turcosa), and White-collared Jay (C. viridicyanus).  The Beautiful Jay is distinguished from all of these species not only by the darker overall color, but also by the more contrasting whitish crown, and by the absence of a black band across the breast. Of these species, Beautiful Jay overlaps geographically only with Turquoise Jay, which also is larger and primarily occurs at higher elevations.

The following description is based on dos Anjos (2009):

Feathers of the forecrown are SHORT, DENSE, and TUFTED. Lores, forecrown and sides of the head black. Crown and nape light sky-blue, paler and whiter along the upper margin of the black face mask. Upper back dull violaceous blue; rest of upperparts sepia. Wing coverts, and margins to remiges and rectrices, light blue. Chin black. Throat light blue, shading darker and washed with brown on upper breast; belly light blue.

Female similar to male, but with brownish tones on the upperparts.

Juvenile drabber and browner than adult.

No information.

Iris brown.

Bill black.

Tarsus black.

(dos Anjos 2009).

Few data:

Total length:  27 cm (Madge and Burn 1994, Ridgely and Greenfield 2001); 28 cm (Hilty and Brown 1986).

Wing length: 135 mm (n = 1; Madge and Burn 1994).

Tail length: 120 mm (n =1 ; Madge and Burn 1994).

Bill length: 33 mm (n = 1; Madge and Burn 1994).

Tarsus length: 34 mm (n = 1; Madge and Burn 1994).

There are no published data on the mass of this species.