Natural History Wanderings

The Revelator reports the decline of the Pinyon Jay. Here are a few excerpts

Together, jays and piñon pines help create vital habitat for numerous plants and animals, including threatened bird species like Woodhouse’s scrub jay and the gray vireo. The pines also supply a traditional food source for Indigenous tribes and Hispanic communities in New Mexico.

In the last 50 years, the population of pinyon jays has declined by an estimated 80%.

The two major culprits of the jays’ decline are climate change and a long history of piñon pine removal carried out by federal agencies, including, increasingly, thinning and burning for wildfire prevention. Both have impacted piñon pines and led to declining nut production. … conservation is critical for the jay, but also “for an entire ecosystem, and all the other species” that depend upon it.

Read full story at The Pinyon Jay’s Plight • The Revelator