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What Does The Jay Look LikeA Woodland Bird this colourful member of the crow family, jays are actually quite difficult to observe. Pale brown with distictive Blue and Black check like marks on the wing make it distictive .They are shy woodland birds, rarely moving far from cover. The screaming call usually lets you know a jay is about and it is usually given when a bird is on the move, so watch for a bird flying between the trees with its distinctive flash of white on the rump. Jays are famous for their acorn feeding habits and in the autumn you may see them burying acorns for retrieving later in the winter.
How Big Is It ?
Aprox 74 cm , weighing 170 g
Where does it live?
Breeding
Jays like broad-leaved and coniferous woodland with adequate protective habitat. Oak, beech and hornbeam woods are favourites, and smaller thicket and spinney may be used. It is moving into more suburban areas where there are mature trees - parks, cemeteries and gardens.
Wintering
Similar to breeding habitats.When does it Breed ?
April to June , 5 - 6 eggs, Incubation 16 - 17 days , young fledging at 19 to 20 days, Nests in trees
Where to see it
Found across the UK, but only in southern Scotland. Lives in both deciduous and coniferous woodland, parks and mature gardens. Likes oak trees in autumn when there are plenty of acorns. Often seen flying across a woodland glade giving its screeching call. and it becomes more obvious in autumn when it may fly some distance in the open in search of acorns.
What does it eat?
Acorns, nuts, seeds and insects.
What does it sound like?
A harsh screeching call
When to see it
All year round, but often more obvious in autumn when they travel most in search of acorns, beech mast and hazelnuts to bury.
