Eurasian jay in Switzerland: Foresters of the forest in the crosshairs

The Eurasian jay is Switzerland's most important natural tree planter. A single bird hides up to 3,000 acorns in the forest floor in autumn, often failing to find many of them, thus allowing young oak trees to sprout. In forestry, this phenomenon has its own technical term: "jay seeding." In Brandenburg, the Eurasian jay is officially recognized as a helper in forest conversion. In Switzerland, however, it is hunted. Every year, hundreds to over a thousand Eurasian jays fall victim to hunting. BirdLife Switzerland comments: "Why Eurasian jays are shot is difficult to understand." Hobby hunters treat the "forester of the woods" like pest control.

Profile

The Eurasian jay ( Garrulus glandarius ) belongs to the crow family (Corvidae) and, after the magpie and carrion crow, is the best-known member of this family in Switzerland. It is about the same size as a magpie, with a body length of around 34 centimeters and a weight of 140 to 190 grams. Its plumage is unmistakable: the body is a delicate pinkish-brown to beige, the crown light beige with black streaks, the malar stripe black, and the throat white. Its trademark is the bright sky-blue, black-barred wing coverts, which make it the most colorful corvid in Europe. In flight, the white rump is striking, contrasting sharply with the black tail. Both sexes look alike.

Biology and way of life

The Eurasian jay is a resident bird that remains in its territory year-round. Only in years with a poor acorn crop or during periods of population pressure from northeastern Europe do so-called invasion flights occur, in which large flocks migrate to Switzerland. In the canton of Graubünden, 770 Eurasian jays were shot in one such invasion year, compared to only 192 the previous year (Südostschweiz, 2018). The Eurasian jay lives in deciduous and mixed forests with dense undergrowth and prefers oak and oak-hornbeam stands. It also breeds in parks and large gardens with mature trees (Waldwissen.net, Swiss Ornithological Institute Sempach).

The Eurasian jay lives in monogamous pair bonds that often last for several years. From April onwards, the pair builds a nest in dense undergrowth or treetops. The clutch consists of 4 to 6 eggs, rarely up to 9. Incubation lasts 16 to 19 days, and the young leave the nest after another 20 to 23 days. Life expectancy in the wild is up to 17 years.

Intelligence and voice imitation

The Eurasian jay is one of the most intelligent birds in Europe. Its scientific name, Garrulus, means "chatterer" and refers to its diverse repertoire of sounds. It can imitate the calls of other bird species with uncanny accuracy, including the call of the common buzzard, and uses this ability both to warn its fellow jays and to confuse other animals. Its piercing alarm call, "rätsch," warns all forest inhabitants, from deer to squirrels, of approaching danger. It is thus the forest's acoustic alarm system.

The "forester of the forest": A key ecological achievement

Jay seeds: Planting trees without human intervention

The Eurasian jay's most ecologically significant characteristic is its hiding behavior. In autumn, it collects large quantities of acorns, beechnuts, and hazelnuts, burying them in hundreds of caches in the forest floor. A single bird can store up to 3,000 acorns per autumn, transporting them in its throat pouch and beak over distances of several hundred meters to several kilometers from the source to the cache (Waldwissen.net, avi-fauna.info). Its cognitive ability is remarkable: the birds precisely remember the location, quantity, and type of their stores and can even find them again under a blanket of snow.

But not all hiding places are rediscovered in winter. A young tree can sprout from every forgotten acorn. This natural forest regeneration by the Eurasian jay is known in forestry as "jay sowing" (Waldwissen.net, Brandenburg). Foresters in Germany and Austria utilize this mechanism intentionally: They create so-called "jay feeding stations" where they offer acorns and beechnuts to the jay, encouraging it to bury them in the surrounding forest. In Brandenburg, the Eurasian jay is officially recognized as a helper in forest conversion and has been chosen as the emblem bird of the forest conversion campaign (Waldwissen.net, Working Group on Wildlife Position Paper, 2021).

Why the oak tree needs the jay

Acorns are heavy seeds that fall naturally just a few meters from the parent tree. Without an animal disperser, the oak cannot colonize new locations. The Eurasian jay is the most important long-distance disperser of acorns in Central Europe. It transports them over distances that no other animal can reach and buries them at precisely the depth (2 to 5 centimeters) that is optimal for germination. Without the Eurasian jay, there would be significantly fewer oak trees in Swiss forests.

Climate change is making the Eurasian jay more important than ever.

The oak tree is gaining significant importance for Swiss forestry in the context of climate change. As a drought-resistant and heat-loving species, it is promoted as a "tree of the future" in many silvicultural programs. The 2025 Forest Report by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) emphasizes that more climate-resistant tree species such as oak and maple are crucial for adapting forests to climate change. The silvicultural work of the Eurasian jay, which plants oaks free of charge, efficiently, and without subsidies, is therefore more important than ever (Waldwissen.net, Markwart the cheeky oak planter). It is an unparalleled paradox that Switzerland simultaneously permits the hunting of this natural forest regenerator.

More on this topic: Dossier: Hunting and Biodiversity

Hunting: Pest control from the 19th century

Legal situation

The Eurasian jay is a game bird species according to the Federal Hunting Act (JSG, Art. 5 para. 3). It is classified as a small game bird, along with the carrion crow, magpie, and raven. The closed season varies from canton to canton. In the canton of Bern, the Eurasian jay is among the species that may be hunted during the closed season as part of "special culls," along with carrion crows, magpies, foxes, and badgers (IG Wild beim Wild, Fuchsmassaker in der Schweiz).

The scale of the shootdown

Precise nationwide figures for the Eurasian jay alone are difficult to isolate from publicly available summaries of hunting statistics in Switzerland, as it is often reported together with other corvids. The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) noted in 1998 that half of all birds killed were carrion crows and jays (FOEN press release, 1998). BirdLife Switzerland criticized the shooting of jays as "difficult to understand" (BirdLife Switzerland, hunting statistics). In the canton of Graubünden, 770 jays were shot in 2017, a year of population irruptions (Südostschweiz, 2018). Watson.ch noted: "Even birds atypical for hunting novices, such as magpies and jays, may be hunted and are not protected species" (Watson, 2023).

The “vermin” narrative

The historical justification for hunting the Eurasian jay dates back to the 19th century. Hobby hunters considered it "vermin," a harmful animal to protected game that should not be hunted but rather controlled as a pest (AG Wildtiere, Position Paper on the Eurasian Jay, 2021). In Germany, the term "vermin" was removed from the Federal Hunting Law in 1976 as a "heretical and unnecessary expression." In Austria, it is still used for the Eurasian jay. In Switzerland, the narrative persists: The Eurasian jay is defamed as a "nest robber" and "egg thief" that harms songbird and small game populations and therefore must be "regulated."

What the narrative conceals

The Eurasian jay does indeed eat the eggs and nestlings of other species in spring and summer. This behavior is real, but it is a natural part of the forest ecosystem and has not driven any bird species to extinction in millennia of co-evolution. The main threats to songbirds are habitat loss due to intensified agriculture, pesticide use which destroys insect prey, glass facades, domestic cats, and road traffic, not the jay. To criminalize a bird as a "nest robber" simply because it feeds naturally is pseudobiological nonsense used to legitimize the hunting of corvids.

Nutrition and ecological function: Far more than just acorns

Omnivorous with seasonal feeding habits

The Eurasian jay is a versatile omnivore. In spring and summer, its diet is dominated by animal matter: caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, and other insects make up the majority of its food. It also preys on mice, lizards, and occasionally eggs and nestlings. In autumn and winter, it switches to a plant-based diet: acorns constitute up to 70 percent of its food, supplemented by beechnuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts, berries, and grains (avi-fauna.info, Waldwissen.net).

Insect control

Due to the high proportion of insects in its summer diet, the Eurasian jay acts as a natural pest controller in the forest. Its prey on caterpillars, especially oak processionary moth and winter moth caterpillars, benefits forestry. This benefit is not considered in any hunting management plans.

The warning function

The jay's loud alarm call warns not only other jays, but the entire forest ecosystem of danger. Deer, hares, squirrels, and other songbirds benefit from its vigilance. Amateur hunters find precisely this warning function disruptive: the jay "betrays" the amateur hunter stalking its prey in the woods. Shooting a wild animal because it warns other wild animals is a perversion of the concept of hunting that requires no further comment.

What would need to change

Nationwide protection of the Eurasian jay : A bird that promotes forest regeneration as a natural tree planter, regulates insect populations, and protects the entire ecosystem as an alarm system, must not be hunted. The Eurasian jay should be removed from the list of huntable species. What is celebrated in Brandenburg as the emblem of forest conversion must not be treated as "vermin" in Switzerland.
Recognition of the silvicultural contribution : The forestry sector must officially recognize the Eurasian jay's contribution to the propagation of oak and beech trees and integrate it into silvicultural programs. "Jay tables," modeled on the German system, should also be used in Switzerland to specifically promote natural forest regeneration.
Abolition of small-scale hunting of corvids : Hunting jays, magpies, and carrion crows is not justified from a wildlife biology perspective and serves the recreational interests of hobby hunters. The Swiss Animal Protection Association (STS) rightly demands that the purpose and rationale of hunting these species be critically examined.
Stop the "special culls" during the closed season : In the canton of Bern, jays are still being killed as part of special culls even during the closed season. This practice undermines the purpose of the closed season and must be stopped immediately.
Research on the role of the Eurasian jay in Swiss forests : There are no specific Swiss studies on the quantitative significance of jay sowing for oak regeneration. Given climate change and the growing importance of oak as a future tree species, this research gap urgently needs to be closed.

Argumentation

"The Eurasian jay is a nest robber and harms songbird populations." The Eurasian jay occasionally eats eggs and fledglings in spring and summer. This behavior is natural and part of the forest ecosystem, which has functioned for millennia. No songbird species is endangered by the Eurasian jay. The real threats to songbirds are habitat loss, pesticides, glass facades, and cats, not a corvid that naturally feeds on its prey. To defame the Eurasian jay as a "nest robber" to justify shooting it is the "vermin" narrative of the 19th century, which was abolished in Germany in 1976 but persists in Switzerland.

"The jay warns other wildlife of the recreational hunter and therefore disrupts the hunt." That a wild animal is shot because it warns other wildlife of humans is an admission that recreational hunting is incompatible with the ecosystem and works against it. The jay's warning function is an ecological service that applies to predators as well as recreational hunters. It is not a reason for shooting it, but an argument for its protection.

"The Eurasian jay is common and not endangered, therefore it can be hunted." The fact that a species is not endangered does not mean that hunting it is sensible or necessary. The Eurasian jay causes no damage that would justify shooting it. Its ecological benefits as a tree planter, insect regulator, and alarm system far outweigh any conceivable "damage." Hunting a species simply because it is common has no justifiable basis under animal welfare law.

"Hunting the Eurasian jay has no impact on the population." If shooting has no impact on the population, it serves no purpose. Shooting without effect or benefit is senseless killing. The justifiable reason required by animal welfare law for killing an animal must exist before the shooting, not in the finding that it had no consequences.

"In years of invasion, jays have to be shot because too many are migrating in." Invasion flights are a natural phenomenon triggered by poor food availability in their native habitats. The migrating birds distribute thousands of acorns in Switzerland, thus contributing to forest regeneration. Misusing invasion years as an argument for increased culling distorts biology: nature sends free tree planters, and recreational hunters shoot them.

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Sources

Federal Hunting Statistics, FOEN/Wildlife Switzerland: http://www.jagdstatistik.ch
BUWAL press release (1998): Federal hunting statistics 1997 (half of the birds killed were carrion crows and jays)
BirdLife Switzerland: The current hunting statistics and the revised hunting law (birdlife.ch)
Waldwissen.net/WSL: Native forest birds, The Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius)
Waldwissen.net: Markwart, the cheeky oak planter (Jayer seed and jayer tables in North Rhine-Westphalia)
Swiss Ornithological Institute Sempach: Distribution of the Eurasian Jay 2013–2016
Southeastern Switzerland (2018): Hunters set a new record (770 jays in Graubünden)
AG Wildtiere (2021): Position paper on the Eurasian jay (ag-wildtiere.com)
Watson.ch (2023): Hunting: How many animals are shot for consumption in Switzerland
IG Wild beim Wild (2020/2025): Fox massacre in Switzerland, hunting statistics 2022 (wildbeimwild.com)
State of Brandenburg: Leaflet on the Eurasian Jay (forst.brandenburg.de)
avi-fauna.info: The Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius) in Germany
Federal Act on Hunting and the Protection of Wild Mammals and Birds (JSG, SR 922.0)
Animal Welfare Act (TSchG, SR 455)

Our claim

The Eurasian jay is the unsung hero of Swiss forests. It plants oaks where humans don't. It warns the forest of dangers. It regulates insect populations. It is intelligent, colorful, and a master of vocal mimicry. Forestry owes it more than it realizes: without jay seeding, many of Europe's oak stands would never have come into being. In a time when climate change is making the oak the tree species of the future, the jay's free labor is more valuable than ever. And yet, in Switzerland, it is still shot as part of small game hunting. Because it occasionally eats a bird's egg. Because it "betrays" the hobby hunter. Because it has been considered "vermin" since the 19th century. This classification is a relic of an outdated view of nature that divides animals into "useful" and "harmful," and permits the latter to be shot. The Eurasian jay doesn't deserve to be shot; it deserves protection. This dossier is continuously updated as new figures, studies or political developments require it.

More on the topic of hobby hunting: In our dossier on hunting, we compile fact checks, analyses and background reports.