Oak Jay

8″ x 10″ Woodblock Print | 9″ x 12″ Japanese Paper
Edition 50
2026

Jays are so good at dispersing acorns that the group is widely credited with the proliferation of oak forests worldwide. For example, UC Berkeley’s Thomas Scott observed that an industrious group of jays can move “a forest worth of trees every autumn.” Scott cited an article, “Airlifting the Oaks” (Natural History 10/86:41-46), which discovered that “50 jays transported and cached 150,000 acorns in 28 days, about 110 acorns per day for each bird.” Mutualism of this magnitude, which shapes entire ecosystems, is truly legendary.