Betsy and the group...
I don't have an answer for you, but I do have another observation. I
also study the 8-10 blue jays that visit my feeders every morning. I
also have a routine...every morning I put a "cornucopia" of peanuts
(shelled and in-the-shell), seeds, etc. on a feeding tray. Almost all of
the blue jays except one or two will take the in-the-shell peanuts first
before taking the shelled nuts (2 nuts vs 6 or more). The "smart" jays
can hoard many more nuts by taking the shelled nuts first. Only a few do
this and the stats seem to stay the same.
So it appears that the others haven't figured out that they can stash
many more nuts by taking the shelled nuts first. It will be interesting
to monitor them over coming years to see if they eventually learn. It
does seem quite plausible though that over time they can learn from
watching other jays.
Fun to watch no matter what the case!
Alan
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