A Scream, Band or Jabber of Jays?There is little agreement on what to call a group of jays,another m
A Scream, Band or Jabber of Jays?There is little agreement on what to call a group of jays,another member of the Corvid family. The Latin name Garrulus glandarius suggeststhat The Eurasian Jay in the photo above (which is the species found in Britain)is loud and talkative. Americans will be more familiar with the Blue Jay, theWestern Scrub Jay or the Canadian Jay. Whilst quite shy, the bird also producesa rather loud scream earning it the Gaelic name of ‘schreachag choille’ or‘screamer of the woods’. They frequent wooded areasbecause acorns are their favourite food. Except during late autumn when theleaves have fallen, you are much more likely to hear a jay than see one. Jaysstash acorns, burying them to form a food cache for the winter and followingspring. In the autumn, a single Jay can store between six and ten thousandacorns in separate sites. There are about 170 thousand breeding pairs inBritain plus unmated and juvenile birds, meaning that over 4 million acorns areburied every year. Needless to say, they have exceptional memories but not allwill be retrieved! It is for this reason that Jays are sometimes considered toplay a crucial role in English oak regeneration.Despite the fact that there are manyjays in Britain, they don’t tend to gather in flocks and are not visitors togardens. Every so often, however, England will be “invaded” by foreignjays, arriving in large numbers from Continental Europe during the autumn,drawn in part by bumper acorn harvests. When these invasions occur, local rookscan take exception to the “incomers” and fractious skirmishes canbreak out between these two very different looking corvidae cousins.Personally, I think Sherlock would appreciate jays- look at the blue on the jay’s wing coverts! That’s the colour of his eyes! -- source link
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