Question

How do blue jays potentially keep some trees from speciating?

Answer 1

These birds are related to each other, and they’re all smart.

They all hide seeds for the winter — not in one central pile but all over their territory, a technique called “scatter-hoarding.” (Squirrels do the same.)

They hide more seeds than they eventually find and eat, leaving some to sprout in the spring. And they move acorns and pine cones much farther from the tree than if the seeds simply fell.

“Blue jays really like acorns, and if you want to see blue jays just go anywhere that has a concentration of oak trees. It doesn’t have to be deep, dark forest, it could be in the Glebe.”

“They don’t dig holes an awful lot. A lot of it is just stuffing them under bark” of a standing tree. “But they fall out and they get moved around.”

Gray jays in particular even steal from each other’s hoards.