Winter guests: The Jay

The jay is a common winter guest in our garden. This year we even have a couple to visit.

The jay owes its name to its favorite food. He can transport up to ten acorns in the throat bag – and not infrequently carries one in his beak. He then hides the tree fruits carefully as winter stock in the ground, which suggests a phenomenal memory. But since he does not find all the hiding places in the end, many of the acorns can germinate. So he sows indirectly food trees for subsequent generations of jay. Incidentally, in the past, it helped oak forests to spread through this peculiarity.

In the shelter of the trees, the jay roams our garden in search of hazelnuts, berries and other food sources.

Source: Nabu