Each spring, when Eric turns over the soil in our garden, he finds small, often shiny objects that had been buried in the soil. Shown above is the collection of objects he discovered in the soil last weekend.
We think this is the work of local California Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma californica). Interestingly, some of these things aren't from our yard, but more likely from other yards in the neighborhood.
I tried to find more information about why jays might have a penchant for shiny objects like these. Although I found quite a bit of information about jays caching food items like acorns (a note that we also find peanut shells in our garden), I couldn't find too much about hiding non-food objects.
Do you also see jays hiding shiny trinkets in your yard?
1 comment:
Crows are also attracted to shiny objects.
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