Shutterstock.com/Deep Desert Photography
by Amy Gross
pinyon jays need our help
THIS PAST SUMMER, I was doing some yard work when I absentmindedly registered the sound of seagulls flying overhead. Wait—seagulls? I had to laugh out loud. Pinyon jays catch me off guard every time I hear them, which admittedly is only once or twice a year. Their distinctive cackle is indeed reminiscent of seagulls, which I grew up hearing on the Jersey Shore. About a hundred of these large, crow-like, gray-blue birds suddenly appeared on the scene, eagerly in search of their favorite food—piñon pine seeds—and over the next couple of months my neighbors and I witnessed lots of raucous pinyon jay parties in our piñon-juniper trees. Pinyon jays apparently like to talk while they eat, and their delighted cackling could be downright deafening!
I was especially gratified to “host” this flock of pinyon jays because I recently learned that their numbers are plummeting—at an alarming rate. “The pinyon jay is one of the fastest declining wildlife species in North America,” says Peggy Darr, the New Mexico representative with the national conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife. “Since the 1960s, we’ve lost more than eighty-four percent of the global pinyon jay population.”
Why are these birds disappearing? Darr points to the thinning and clearing of piñon-juniper woodlands by public and private landowners for livestock grazing and fire hazard reduction, coupled with inadequate efforts to address climate change.
“Piñon pine seeds are the primary food source for pinyon jays, and pinyon jays are the primary distributors and planters of piñon pine seeds. If we lose one, we lose the other,” Darr explains. “Without pinyon jays, we lose an ecosystem that supports myriad other wildlife species, and erase from our Earth a species that has evolved to be one of the most genetically distinct and ecologically important in North America.”
How can we, as concerned citizens and backyard bird lovers, help conserve pinyon jays? For one, if you don’t have piñon pines on your property, plant some! Just make sure you’re planting the appropriate piñon pine species for your area (if you don’t know, ask your local plant nursery). If you already have piñon pines, Darr suggests watering them more frequently and mulching around the bases—both of which will help the trees produce more seeds.
Darr also urges residents to take action by commenting on federal land management actions in piñon-juniper woodlands that result in conservation of pinyon jays.
Amy Gross is a birder and the organizer of Santa Fe Birdbrains, a Northern New Mexico–based Meetup group. Learn more about pinyon jay conservation efforts at defenders.org.
