From Seed to Seed:
Plant Science for K-8 Educators

Digging Deeper

Bird-Brained Jays

We can thank blue jays-those beautiful, noisy, aggressive, birdseed-stealing, nest-robbing birds-for increasing the genetic diversity of the eastern hardwood forests. Scientists have discovered that after the glaciers retreated from the northeastern United States, heavy-seeded trees like oak, beech, and chestnut re-colonized the newly open land more quickly than even windblown seeds-and much faster than would have been predicted for plants re-colonizing a region. Blue jays are now credited for accelerating the progress of reforestation.

In the autumn, blue jays often fly up to 5 miles foraging for food in preparation for winter. They have expandable throats that are capable of holding three white acorns. Once they have found a suitable spot, the birds drop the nuts, and individually push them down into the soil, hiding them for later use. They even cover the nuts with a layer of grass or other plant debris, presumably to hide the nuts from rodents. In one study, researchers counted 50 blue jays transporting and burying 150,000 acorns over the course of four weeks.

Of course the blue jays don't remember exactly where they hid each carefully planted nut...

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