This episode is nuts! Like peanut butter and jelly, Blue Jays and oak trees go together - they have a fascinating relationship that plays out in our forests every fall. Jays (and many of their corvid relatives) collect boatloads of acorns and engage in a caching behavior called scatter hoarding. The extent to which oaks have evolved to rely on this behavior is startling, and in this episode, Bill and Steve (he's back!) pull back the curtain on the fascinating world of acorns and corvids, revealing why these two groups are MFEO (Made For Each Other).

This episode was recorded on Oct. 23, 2017 at 18 Mile Creek Park in Hamburg, NY. 

Photo Credit: Larry Ditto Nature Photography - http://www.larryditto.com/wordpress/2011/12/21/blue-jays-whooping-cranes-and-more/

Dr. Pesendorfer discovered the podcast!
http://www.mariopesendorfer.com/news/acorns-and-jays-are-made-for-each-other-podcast

Episode Notes:

Thanks to the Urban Wildlife Podcast for their recent shoutout! Check out their podcast at http://www.urbanwildlifecast.com/

Works Cited

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Darley-Hill, Susan, and W. Carter Johnson. "Acorn dispersal by the blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata)." Oecologia 50.2 (1981): 231-232.

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Myczko, Łukasz, et al. "Predation and dispersal of acorns by European Jay (Garrulus glandarius) differs between a native (Pedunculate Oak Quercus robur) and an introduced oak species (Northern Red Oak Quercus rubra) in Europe." Forest ecology and management 331 (2014): 35-39.

Ostfeld, Richard S., Clive G. Jones, and Jerry O. Wolff. "Of mice and mast." BioScience 46.5 (1996): 323-330.

Ostfeld, Richard S., et al. "Climate, deer, rodents, and acorns as determinants of variation in Lyme-disease risk." PLoS biology 4.6 (2006): e145.

Pesendorfer, Mario B., et al. "Scatter-hoarding corvids as seed dispersers for oaks and pines: A review of a widely distributed mutualism and its utility to habitat restoration." The Condor 118.2 (2016): 215-237.

Sork, Victoria L. "Evolutionary ecology of mast-seeding in temperate and tropical oaks (Quercus spp.)." Plant Ecology 107.1 (1993): 133-147.

Stein, John D., Denise Binion, and R. E. Acciavatti. "Field guide to native oak species of eastern North America." (2003).

Tushingham, Shannon, and Robert L. Bettinger. "Why foragers choose acorns before salmon: Storage, mobility, and risk in aboriginal California." Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 32.4 (2013): 527-537.

Werier, D, and A Nelson. “Fagaceae.” Fagaceae - Family Page - NYFA: New York Flora Atlas - NYFA: New York Flora Atlas, New York Flora Association, 2 Feb. 2017, newyork.plantatlas.usf.edu/Family.aspx?id=112.

Wolff, Jerry O. "Population fluctuations of mast-eating rodents are correlated with production of acorns." Journal of Mammalogy 77.3 (1996): 850-856

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