The head, neck, nape, and tail are pale blue while the back and belly are pale gray. They are similar in appearance to the more common blue jay, but lack the crest, white tipped feathers, and black bars. Males and females are similar in appearance.
Juveniles are similar to the adults, but lack the blue on the crown and nape.
The oldest reported scrub-jay is 15 years, but they rarely live that long. This protection makes it illegal to possess, harm, or harass Florida scrub-jays. The Florida scrub-jay only occurs in peninsular Florida. Historically, the Florida scrub-jay existed in 39 counties south of and including, Levy, Gilchrist, Alachua, Clay, and Duval with the exception of Monroe. They have become locally extinct in 9 of these counties including Alachua, Broward, Clay, Dade, Duval, Gilchrist, Hendry Pinellas, and St. Johns Counties.