Western scrub-jay, Aphelocoma californica, also known as the California (scrub) jay, photographed in California, USA.
Image: Steve Duncan [velociraptorize].
Nikon D300
Question: These personable birds are well-known for a particular behaviour. This behaviour is so well-known that scientists have spent large amounts of their professional lives studying it. What behaviour is that and what makes it so special?
Response: This is an adult Western scrub-jay, Aphelocoma californica, also known as the California (scrub) jay. These birds are noted for their food-caching behaviours. This is a behaviour where they bury seeds and nuts beneath leaves, grass or mulch. Competing birds may steal from one another's caches, removing a nut to bury it elsewhere. The birds will retrieve cached food when supplies are scarce, but because they store more food than necessary, they help reseed forests in many regions.
Scientists' studies of the western scrub jay's food-caching behaviours have provided us with astonishing insight into how these birds think. Embedded below is a 2 minute radio programme about one of the many studies of western scrub-jay's caching behaviours, thanks to my friends at BirdNote Radio:
You are invited to review all of the daily mystery birds by going to their dedicated graphic index page.
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