Eurasian Jay
Garrulus glandarius
In autumn a jay buries thousands of acorns as a winter store – those it fails to find germinate, so it helps oaks to spread. It warns of intruders with harsh, rasping calls and occasionally gives a deceptively realistic imitation of the common buzzard’s mew.
- Group
- Songbirds
- Photos
- 5
- Taken
- 2019–2022
Profile: Eurasian Jay
- Family
- Crows and jays (Corvidae)
- Size
- approx. 32–35 cm
- Wingspan
- approx. 53–58 cm
- Weight
- approx. 170 g
- Habitat
- Open, well-structured woodland, in Central Europe preferably deciduous and mixed forest with oaks and beeches, plus copses, parks and gardens right into villages and towns.
- Diet
- Acorns, beechnuts, hazelnuts and other seeds, berries and fruit, plus insects, caterpillars and, less often, eggs or nestlings.
- When to see
- Resident and partial migrant, seen all year; especially conspicuous in autumn when gathering acorns, with influxes from north-eastern Europe in some years.
Learn more: Wikipedia · NABU (German)