Zelicaon, can you contrast these guys' appearnace with the scrub jay a little more?
Sure can. But let me compare and contrast three birds you are likely to find now.
First they are all Corvids, that is, members of the crow family like ravens. They are all noisy and found in small groups. They all have long pointed bills.
The three birds of similar size and habitat are:
Scrub Jay, 11-13" head to tail, chaparral, residential areas and pinyon-juniper and scrub-oak woodlands
Pinyon Jay, 9-11 1/2", pinyon-juniper woodland and yellow pine forest
Clark's Nutcracker, 12-13', near timberline [I've seen them at Table Mtn.]
Scrub Jay is slim with contrasting bright blue and gray plumage. The blue is on the back and the gray on the underparts. The throat is white. The tail is long.
Clark's Nutcracker is stout with a gray head and body and black wings. In flight this bird shows white patches on trailing edge of the wings and the outer tail feathers.
Pinyon Jay is stout, overall dull blue-gray with a short tail.
To summarize, the pinyon jay shows no contrasting colors on its body when perched or in flight and is stout with a short square tail.
