34 votes

‘Grue jay’ hybrid spotted in Texas

Posted by skybrian
Tags: climate change, usa.tx, wildlife, birds, ornithology, species.hybrid, blue jays, grue jays, green jays, sightings, author.gayoung lee, source.gizmodo
https://gizmodo.com/this-grue-jay-hybrid-looks-cool-as-hell-but-its-a-warning-sign-2000661446

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Title
This 'Grue Jay' Hybrid Looks Cool as Hell-but It's a Warning Sign
Authors
Gayoung Lee, Adam Kovac, Isaac Schultz, Ed Cara
Published
Sep 19 2025
Word count
608 words

6 comments

  1. Lyrl
    Link
    I wasn't aware of green jays before. They look quite different from blue jays with the lack of crest and much larger black face marking. Interesting the parents even recognized each other as...

    I wasn't aware of green jays before. They look quite different from blue jays with the lack of crest and much larger black face marking. Interesting the parents even recognized each other as potential mating partners.

    9 votes
  2. [3]
    skybrian
    Link
    From the article:

    From the article:

    In a recent Ecology and Evolution paper, biologists at the University of Texas at Austin describe the odd jay in more detail, explaining how the blue and green jays’ ranges might have crossed for this hybrid bird to exist. According to their analysis, green jays—a tropical bird found in Central America—have been migrating farther north as a result of temperature changes. Eventually, their paths crossed with blue jays, a temperate species common in the Eastern U.S. that had shifted their range west.

    “We think it’s the first observed vertebrate that’s hybridized as a result of two species both expanding their ranges due, at least in part, to climate change,” Brian Stokes, study lead author and a postdoctoral student at The University of Texas at Austin, said in a statement.

    7 votes
    1. [2]
      tyrny
      Link Parent
      I thought that the polar-grizzly hybrids had been observed in the wild and were attributed to climate change.

      I thought that the polar-grizzly hybrids had been observed in the wild and were attributed to climate change.

      1 vote
      1. cfabbro
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        AFAIK, grizzly-polar bear hybrids are due to polar bears' habitat shrinking due to climate change, not expanding, as is the case with the blue/green jays. So that's probably the distinction...

        AFAIK, grizzly-polar bear hybrids are due to polar bears' habitat shrinking due to climate change, not expanding, as is the case with the blue/green jays. So that's probably the distinction between the two which makes the jays' situation unique.

        Edit: Another hybrid I can think of that has come about fairly recently due to expanded ranges is Coywolves. However, the distinction there is that it wasn't caused by climate change but by wolves being hunted to near extinction, which has allowed coyotes to move into their territory. And since our hunting of them also reduced the amount of suitable mates available to the various wolf species, it has pressured them into mating with coyotes (and feral dogs) instead.

        6 votes
  3. [2]
    myrrh
    (edited )
    Link
    ...as long as their range doesn't overlap karst topography, we're probably probably alright; it'd be perilous introducing grue jays to a maze of twisty little passages, all alike...

    ...as long as their range doesn't overlap karst topography, we're probably probably alright; it'd be perilous introducing grue jays to a maze of twisty little passages, all alike...

    2 votes