How many acorns will a jay collect over a season?
Squirrels are not the only animal that love to collect and bury acorns. A jay can store as many as 5, 000 acorns! They place their acorns in many different places such as natural holes, crevices in tree bark and under leaf litter.
Just like a squirrel can remember where it left most of its nature treasures so can a jay. A jay may use visual clues to help guide them and they can dig in 40 cm snow to try to find their acorns. But not acorns will be found and some of them may germinate and grow into new oak trees.
Jays can store up to nine acorn in their gullets at any one time. But most of the time they simply carry two or three acorns with the bills. It is quite tricky to spot jays despite their dazzling turquoise feathers. The wings are mostly black with white patches but there also bands of graduated shades of blue. During autumn it is a bit easier to see then while they search for acorns on the ground.
Many jays have moved inte urban forests so they are be seen in cities. If there is a bad year for acorsn more jays can be seen in gardens where they serach for alternative food.Hawks
Hawks attackt jays and when threatened by hawks, jays mob their attackers, mimicking the hawk’s call as an alarm. Rather clever, don’t you think?
When can it be smart to mimic something?
Biomimicry for Young Children 