Scientific Name:
Garrulsu glandarius
Common Name:
Jay
Family:
Crows, Jay and Magpies: Corvidae
Summary:
The Jay is a fairly decorative species of crow with characteristic bright blue patches on its dark wings. It has a speckled cap and black stripe running downwards from behind the bill which looks a little like a moustache.
Ecology:
The Jay’s natural habitat is woodland, but it ventures out into parks and occasionally gardens. It feeds on acorns and stores them in the ground, helping distribute oak trees. It also steals eggs and the young of other birds and supplements its diet with small vertebrates, insects and earthworms.
Habitat:
Woodland.
Distribution:
Throughout England and Wales with scattered occurrence in Ireland apart from the West. Distributed in Scotland but only locally in woodland regions of the south and centre, absent from the North.
Size:
34 cm