Eight Fun Facts About Pinyon Jays
It was a cool, early fall day. I was out collecting piñon pine seeds for habitat restoration when I heard the raucous calls of pinyon jays in the trees surrounding me. One pinyon jay — identifiable from other local jays by their overall blue color, shorter tail and lack of crest — was collecting piñon pine seeds from cones just above me. It extracted a seed, then lifted its head and swallowed, storing seeds in a bulging expandable esophagus. It would later fly away with its flock members to cache the seeds for later consumption.
Since that special day, I’ve learned a lot of amazing facts about these blue crows — a colloquial name for them — and many are surprisingly relatable. What new fact will you learn?
1. Pinyon jays are extremely social birds and are rarely observed individually.
Many pinyon jays will spend their entire lives in their natal flocks. Those who do disperse — typically females before they are 1 year old — generally travel short distances. Flocks forage together year-round, except during nesting season, when incubating females rarely leave their nest for more than a few minutes. Males will continue to forage together in small groups during this time and will return to the colony to feed their mates.
2. Pinyon jays are highly specialized in harvesting, transporting, caching and retrieving pine seeds.
A single pinyon jay can cache about 2,600 piñon pine seeds in a single autumn, if cones are abundant. Cached seeds are hidden from view, usually on the ground, and there are no clues to their location. Yet field observations reveal these birds are extremely accurate at digging up hidden seeds, even through the snow!
Studies show pinyon jays have excellent spatial memory. They do not use odor, site-marking or route reversal to accurately recover their caches. Individual jays instead use landmarks and even the sun as a compass to aid them in finding their caches.
3. Pinyon jays generally mate for life.
These jays are socially monogamous, pairing up (generally) for life. And they won’t just settle! Yearlings may court for over six months before forming a permanent bond. Once paired, the divorce rate among pinyon jays is extremely rare.
For birds who do lose their mate, the remaining jay seems to take past breeding performance into consideration when choosing a new mate. Males and females who had successfully bred tended to pair up with a partner who was also successful in past breeding.
4. Cache locations are mutually known to mates.
Think of these caches like a life insurance policy. Mated pinyon jay pairs appear to coordinate their caching so the locations are mutually known to each other. In other words, if one partner passes unexpectedly, the other knows where the food is stashed.
5. Pinyon jays are likely able to recognize flock members, mates and kin.
Not only do these birds know their flock members’ breeding histories but they also recognize each other! Pinyon jays use a variety of vocalizations to stay in touch with other flock members, help identify themselves and others, show status, and quickly share information about their wellbeing, surroundings and family.
Additionally, like a daycare, pinyon jay fledglings from a variety of nests will gather in groups called crèches. Parents are able to recognize their young and are the primary food providers for their young only.
6. Fledglings are highly inquisitive and play with objects, sometimes in the form of tug-of-war
Young pinyon jays will preen each other, exert dominance and play. Fox and rabbit scat, feathers, string, pieces of bark, discarded paper, empty aluminum cans, pine needles and cones, leaves, twigs, beetles, and other insects are all used as toys. Often young will present their items to other young and a game of tug of war may ensue!
Once the young jays reach about 7 weeks old, they will begin hiding their “toys” in the dirt or tree crevices. This behavior is called “play caching,” since the behavior mimics how adults cache seeds but most of the items are inedible.
7. Young pinyon jays babble before they learn how to properly sing.
Just as you may hear a human baby make a ‘goo goo ga’ and ‘brrr-eee!’ noise as they find their voice, you may also hear beeps, toots, whistles and clicks — all very non-jay-like sounds — during a young pinyon jay’s first summer. As these baby birds learn how to sing, they create rambling subsongs.
Many notes in these subsongs are typical pinyon jay calls, including nears, trills, kaws, buzzes, ricks and racks. The varied sounds, like those mentioned above, also contain bell-like sounds, notes reminiscent of a woodwind instrument, chuckles and grating noises.
After much practice, young pinyon jays will master the adult songs. The two most common calls are the "kaw" and the "multiple Rak.”
Note: The "Kaw" can be heard at :06 and the "multiple Rak" can be heard at 1:19.
8. Pinyon jays are keystone species and they need our help.
Pinyon jays support their ecosystems in many ways, but the most spectacular is their relationship with the piñon pines, for which they are named. After caching, they inevitably leave some pine seeds behind in the ground, which eventually grow into the next generation of piñon pine trees. These trees then support countless other animals, including juniper titmice, pinyon mice and roundtail horned lizards.
Climate-related stressors and other factors have recently contributed to a decrease in piñon seed production, affecting food availability for woodland wildlife. But we all can help! Join Defenders of Wildlife in protecting pinyon jays by helping protect pines and signing up to be a pinyon jay defender.
Author
Allison Cook
Peggy Darr
Areas of Expertise: Ornithology; imperiled species conservation; Pinyon Jay conservation; beaver management and coexistence; southwest warbler conservation; ponderosa pine forest, mixed-conifer forest, and piñon-juniper woodland
