Subject: Re: Jays and Nutcrackers
Date: Sep 27 11:22:03 1995
From: Eugene Hunn - hunn at u.washington.edu


I recall having read somewhere (... the definitive authority!) that Gray
Jays stored fat not on their persons but in caches in the ground, etc.,
to which they returned in the winter. Nutcrackers apparently store seeds
likewise. Do Steller's Jays also? Is there anything special then about
Gray Jay food storage behaviors?

Gene.

On Wed, 27 Sep 1995, Dennis Paulson wrote:

> >Another thing about Gray Jays, they store fat. The Sahaptin Indian name
> >for the Gray Jay is, in fact, ya'pash pat'ahla', which means 'fat
> >lover'. Steller's Jay is Xwa'shXway, obviously onomatopoetic.
>
>
> I hope you'll show us how to pronounce that one some day, Gene. I can see
> why you enjoy your field, as it would be very interesting to see what
> characteristics of animals and plants are emphasized by those people who
> name them.
>
> I wonder if Gray (or other) Jays store fat or if they just readily eat it
> to keep their furnace stoked during the winter. Because most corvids are
> nonmigratory, we rarely find very much fat on them when we prepare them,
> unlike migratory species that do deposit a lot of it. Some birds indeed
> store fat as a way of enduring the winter, but it seems to be more
> characteristic of water than land birds. And the corvid strategy of
> caching for the winter probably relieves them of the adaptive strategy of
> depositing fat for the winter.
>
> Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
> Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
> University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
> Tacoma, WA 98416
>
>
>