About the geographic distribution of the Xinjiang Ground Jay (Podoces biddulphi)

Abstract

Considering a recent proposition on this journal that the endemic Xinjiang Ground Jay (Podoces biddulphi) would be expanding its range to Qinghai and Gansu, a previously overlooked statement has been found in old literature suggesting that this species has occurred in Gansu at least since the 19th century. The phreatophytic vegetation this desert bird requires likely constrains its distribution. Therefore, although the desert expansion the current global climate warming is producing may make the Xinjiang Ground Jay expand its range, only well-preserved desert might be colonized. Future research in apparently suitable areas, at present inhabited by the Mongolian Ground Jay (P. hendersoni) instead, might make the ecology of these two mutually exclusive species better understood.