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Eurasian Jay — printable fact sheet
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Eurasian Jay
Garrulus glandarius
Garrulus glandarius is a pink-brown crow with a patch of shimmering blue barred wing feathers, and it is one of the most consequential animals in the European landscape. In autumn a single jay may collect and bury several thousand acorns, one or two at a time, carrying them in a…
Did you know?
- A single Eurasian Jay can hide up to 5,000 acorns in one autumn, remembering the locations months later.
- The brilliant blue in a jay's wing feather contains no blue pigment at all — the colour is produced by microscopic structure scattering light, which is why a crushed feather turns dull brown. Jays practise "anting," deliberately crouching on an ants' nest and letting formic acid spray through their plumage, apparently to control parasites. A jay's screeching alarm call carries through woodland and is why the bird is the first thing a deer stalker curses. Their caching is so good that a jay can find acorns buried under snow months later, using landmarks rather than smell.
What I learned
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