Paul,

Those are great questions, and I can't wait to hear the responses!

My one Jay goes through a feeder of wild bird mix using his beak in a sweeping motion (scattering seed EVERYWHERE!!!!!) emptying the tray so the bigger nuts in the feeder will work their way down into the tray. Reminds me of a child trying to get the prize from a cereal box. Once my Jay gets a big nut - PEANUTS or any of the large nuts in the mix- he gulps them down. He will eat SEVERAL peanuts in one sitting! OINK! Never seen him regurgitate, nor have I seen any burying activity (not by birds, anyway). Of course, my observations are limited to one Jay. Once in a blue moon, I'll have a visitor, and two jays arguing over the feeder...

Nina
(whose woodpeckers are busy bees on the suet pole!)
Bremerton, WA
nina at wavecable.com

----- Original Message -----
From: Pjgumbo at aol.com
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 20:39
Subject: [Tweeters] Steller's Jays and Peanuts


We continue to enjoy St. Jays plundering peanuts from our feeder almost as fast as I can stock them. Thanks to all for Costco suggestion - indeed most economical source I have come across.

But I'm interested in where these nuts are going. We laugh at gluttons that swallow one nut down and then go after another. So far, no confirmed three-nut trips, although we've had multiple viewings of gagging attempts to get that second nut swallowed.

I saw a Jay surreptitiously bury a nut in the lawn yesterday, including what appeared to be the plucking of nearby moss to hide the prize. I also found a sprouted peanut when harvesting potatoes this weekend, 4 inches deep in the soil.

What is known about the habits here? Are Jays routinely able to regurgitate a large peanut (or ingest!)? What range of hidey-holes do they exploit? Any idea what percentage of hidden nuts get recovered?

paul johanson
North Beach (N. Ballard)





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