Forums: War Room → Blue Jay confusion

I was looking through random pages and came across the page Blue Jay. It does not look like a normal Blue jay, but it says it is a non-hybrid animal. Now either it is a non-hybrid bird, a breed we have not named, or it is a hybrid bird of some kind, possibly a cross between a Blue jay and a cockatiel.

So it comes down to this, are we going to keep it as is, or find out what kind of hybrid/non-hybrid bird it is and change the name and/or categories? O.W.L.(My Blog) 02:05, July 28, 2012 (UTC)

I believe that the animal listed as a Blue Jay on this site looks close enough to a real world Blue Jay, so it should keep the name Blue Jay.WEFAang (wall • contribs) 04:58, July 28, 2012 (UTC)

Here is a picture of a Blue Jay (my computor's acting weird so here's the adress.): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cyanocitta-cristata-004.jpg. I don't think they look similar enough to be the same thing. O.W.L.(My Blog) 20:21, July 28, 2012 (UTC)

I also agree it's close enough. Matey Y. (talk • A:TLoM) ♥ 20:21, July 28, 2012 (UTC)

Agreed. If you look at this, the two look very similar. HAMMEROFTHOR 20:26, July 28, 2012 (UTC)

While I admit it doesn't look entirely like a blue jay, I don't think it looks significantly different enough to justify assuming it's hybridized as opposed to just another interpretation of what a blue jay would look like - to paraphrase Mike and Bryan, when they were coming up with some animals in the beginning, they weren't purposefully hybridizing them: that was just how some animals looked in their world. Personally, I think sometimes people see signs of hybridization because that is what thy expect from animals in this series. telane (wall • contribs) 18:31, July 29, 2012 (UTC)

In the Avatar world, non-hybridized animals are rare- just look at how Team Avatar reacted when they heard about the Earth King's bear! I agree, it does not look exteremely different, but even the colors are partly different. Personally, I think it is a cross between a blue jay and a cockateil, or it is just a differnt kind of bird. O.W.L.(My Blog) 19:07, July 29, 2012 (UTC)

Where was it cited as a blue jay? Avatar Extras? If there is a discrepancy we could just move it to "blue bird" (note the space between the words, so as not to call it bluebird, otherwise it's the same problem all over again) until we have better information.DancePowderer Talk 02:30, July 30, 2012 (UTC)

I think Blue bird is a good suggestion, but the bird in question meets all requirements of being called a jay so Blue jay is still appropriate and more accurate. The name Blue Jay (notice the capitalization) will refer to the specific Blue Jay, and I think it is close enought to a Blue Jay to keep the name Blue Jay; however, I think that the name Blue jay is the best since it is specific enough to maintain clarity of what the bird looks like but not so specific that there is any arguing over the name. WEFAang (wall • contribs) 21:08, July 31, 2012 (UTC)

I like the lower case jay idea. It's the same thing only slightly more general, allowing less room for discrepancies.DancePowderer Talk 06:24, August 1, 2012 (UTC)

I think Blue bird is a good medium.O.W.L.(My Blog) 14:13, August 1, 2012 (UTC)

I think that the image is actually a Blue Jay. Also, there was a discussion some time ago regarding the capitalization of Blue Jay. Blue Jay is the name of the species, therefore the "B" and "J" should be in capitals.  Technology Wizard  Wall  Contribs  08:49, August 2, 2012 (UTC)

Actually you only capitalize the jay if you are referring to the specific species. By not capitalizing the word jay you are saying the jay(a specific type of bird) is blue but not the specific species. WEFAang (wall • contribs) 17:32, August 2, 2012 (UTC)

On Wikipedia, Blue Jay is in capitals. However, Flying bison is also the name of a species, yet we don't capitalize the "B" in bison.  Technology Wizard  Wall  Contribs  17:35, August 2, 2012 (UTC)

Well, Blue Jay is supposed to be capiatlized according to the American Ornithologists' Union but this conflicts with many sources including most dictionaries. However, since you claim that this wiki has already decided that Blue Jay will be capitalized when referring to the species, we are forced to follow that regardless of any other recommended way to write it. However, if you are simply talking about a jay, which is a type of bird like a penguin or magpie, and want to say that it was blue you can refer to it as a blue jay. Take the following sentences as an example:

1. The Blue Jay lives in the eastern parts of the United States. (I am talking about 1 specific species)

2. I saw a blue jay on my way to school. (Now I am referring to a jay that was blue but not necessarily the Blue Jay)

So since we name articles in sentence case, the name would be Blue jay if you go with one of the options I am okay with. Though, I am also fine with Blue Jay because I think the bird in question looks close enought if you disregard the lack of black markings and the strange tail. WEFAang (wall • contribs) 19:47, August 2, 2012 (UTC)

... and coloring- Blue Jays aren't yellow and blue. Also, what you are referring to, WEFAang, is a blue bird. blue jay is the same thing as a Blue Jay. 'I saw a blue jay on my way to school' means an actual Blue Jay. If you said 'I saw a blue bird, that would be different. O.W.L.(My Blog) 21:16, August 2, 2012 (UTC)

I did not notice the yellow (If you are referring to the underbody, it is described as white) . Anyway, a blue jay is referring to a jay which is blue. Many American jays are reffered to as a blue jay, yet they are not the Blue Jay.WEFAang (wall • contribs) 21:58, August 2, 2012 (UTC)

Voting

This branched off into a followup suggestion; to lowercase the name. It seems mostly indecisive as to which route is preferred so it's difficult to close this forum at the moment. Voting is opening. Please use a summarized reasoning why you choose to support the one you do. Vulmen (talk • EoK) 03:36, August 16, 2012 (UTC)

Blue Jay

Blue jay

1. Support — Per my reasoning above, this article can be appropriately named Blue jay without any inaccuracies and is more accurate than Blue bird. WEFAang (wall • contribs) 04:37, August 17, 2012 (UTC)
2. Support — There are enough similarities in the depiction of the two to say that the Avatar version can be named as a blue jay. Lowercasing the word "jay" would be consistent with its real life counterpart. HAMMEROFTHOR 10:52, August 17, 2012 (UTC)

Blue bird

1. Support — I support Blue bird because, although Blue Jay may be preferred, not everyone would think about the difference between the captial letters, they would automatically think it was an actual Avatar version of a Blue Jay, wheather they agreed with it or not. Personally, I don't think it's close enough to be a Blue Jay because of the coloring and the tail, so Blue bird is a good medium. O.W.L.(My Blog) 16:02, August 16, 2012 (UTC)

Other