Eurasian Jay

Look and listen in broadleaf and mixed woodland across Europe and western Asia, especially oak woods, where this pinkish-brown corvid forages on the ground and in the canopy for acorns, insects, and eggs. Its harsh, screeching call is often the first clue to its presence, since it is usually shy and quick to retreat into cover, though the flash of its blue-and-black barred wing patch in flight is distinctive. Autumn is a particularly good season, when jays are conspicuous while gathering and burying acorns for winter, a habit that makes them important tree planters in oak woodland.