What do you get when blue jays and green jays mate? A whole new bird species.

A new bird has been discovered in the San Antonio area, a hybrid between two species whose ranges are starting to overlap, in part likely due to climate change, researchers say.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have documented what they believe is the first wild offspring of a blue jay and a green jay, found at a home in Universal City.

“We didn’t even think it was possible,” said Brian Stokes, a doctoral candidate studying integrative biology. Despite their similar names, blue and green jays aren’t closely related, and they aren’t typically found in the same area.

He and his academic advisor, UT Austin Professor Tim Keitt, published their findings this month in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

A local birder was the first to spot the unusual bird in her backyard in late May 2023.

“She had posted some kind of blurry pictures in some Facebook groups and was trying to figure out what it was,” Stokes said.

He had a hunch right away that it might be a hybrid, he said. Its blue coloring was different from the typical iridescence of a blue jay, and its black neck and mask-like shape on its face were similar to a green jay, “enough for us to think that was a reasonable shot of what we were seeing,” he said.

But finding a green jay in the San Antonio area would be unexpected, he said. While they’re quite common in Mexico, the birds are usually found only farther south in Texas.

https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/new-bird-blue-jay-green-species-hybrid-21057557.php