When birds cache groups of seeds for use during drought or cold, they bury them singly, just beneath the ground surface. These are at sites scattered throughout the winter territory, often over a mile from the tree. This makes jays the undisputed champions among acorn dispersers, competing with squirrels. It’ s assumed each jay will remember all the places it buried an acorn and then know exactly where to go to retrieve it. But apparently this is more of a mental challenge than most jays are up to. And you can’ t blame them. A single jay can gather and bury up to 4500 acorns each fall, and from research, it typically“ remembers” where only a quarter of them are buried before springtime. If a Cooper’ s hawk feeds on a jay in December, that jay retrieves none of its acorns. The end result is that each jay plants somewhere in the neighborhood of 3360 oak trees every year of its 7 – 17-year life span. Jays have enabled oaks to move about the earth faster than any other tree species.
Jays can help oaks in other ways, too. When oak disease hits an area,( sudden oak death and oak wilt are examples), there are survivors that may show a slight resistance. These hardy trees produce the most and best acorns. It is the jay that preferentially selects and disperses acorns with resistant genes. Future generations of oaks are likely to survive infections as seeds are spread throughout the countryside.
This is natural selection at its best, but it only works when a partnership between oaks and jays continues to thrive.
Here is another example of often overlooked relationships in nature: birds and trees, food and consumers of foods, seed dispersal and propagation— all taking place, all year long, all over our area, often on our own properties right here in Brown County.
A member of the crow family, jays are studied for their intelligence and cunning talents.
The jay isn’ t actually blue. Blue is rare in nature. Pigments in the jay’ s feathers( melanin) are brown, but we perceive them as blue due to a phenomenon known as light scattering. It is similar to the effects of a prism. The wings contain tiny pockets made of air and keratin, a substance like hair and fingernails. When light
hits these pockets, all the colors of the wavelength except blue are absorbed. The blue wavelength is refracted, which is what allows us to see the feathers as blue.
Known as“ bully birds,” jays can be tolerated at your winter feeder if you give them space and a feeder of their own. Small feeders for chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers that prevent larger birds from feeding can be installed. But the jay’ s presence, the feeding and transport of oak acorns, and its cunning talents should remind us to welcome this visitor.
Look for jays this winter. •
Todd Dobbels, owner / artist
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