The White-throated Magpie-jay is a blue bird with a black crest, a white throat, white front with black chest bar and a long blue tail.
It is native to Central America. Most of the photos on this page (Costa Rican subspecies) were taken by Alexandra Makhnina in Costa Rica.
Magpie-jays are two species of similar birds in the Jay family -- the White-throated and the Black-throated. They hybridise where their ranges meet.
The subspecies above left and centre from Costa Rica, C. f. pompata, has white feathers in its crest
whereas the nominal subspecies, above right, has a fully black crest and black line below the eye.
A close flock includes a breeding pair and female relatives; a larger foraging or mobbing group includes itinerant males.
Males have longer magpie-like tails than females or juveniles.
More of C. f. formosa subspecies, with its V sign, native to southern Mexico.
Magpie-jays are intelligent and gregarious birds and can be noisy.
Here several have banded together (with anis) to mob a boa constrictor which descends from tree to undergrowth. (Sasha - you were very brave!)