Eurasian jay Switzerland: The forest's forester in the crosshairs

The jay is Switzerland's most important natural tree planter. A single bird hides up to 3,000 acorns in the forest floor each autumn, fails to find many of them again, and thus lets young oaks sprout. Forestry even has its own technical term for this: «jay sowings» («Hähersaaten»). In Brandenburg, the jay is officially recognised as a helper in forest conversion. In Switzerland, it is shot. In 2025, 1,007 jays were killed, and in invasion years as many as 2,684 (2017); from 2016 to 2025 the total was 14,422 (Swiss Hunting Statistics 2025). BirdLife Switzerland comments: «Why jays are shot is hard to understand.» Recreational hunters treat the «forester of the woods» like pest control.

Profile

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

Biology and Way of Life

The Eurasian jay is a resident bird that stays in its territory all year round. Only in years of poor acorn mast or when population pressure builds up in north-eastern Europe do so-called irruptions occur, in which large flocks move into Switzerland. In the canton of Grisons, 770 jays were shot in one such irruption year, compared with only 192 the year before (Südostschweiz, 2018). With 60,000 to 75,000 breeding pairs in Switzerland, the jay is widespread and not endangered (Swiss Ornithological Institute, population estimate 2013–2016). It lives in deciduous and mixed woodland 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 jay forms monogamous pairs that often last for several years. From April, the pair builds a nest in dense undergrowth or in the treetops. The clutch comprises 4 to 6, rarely up to 9, eggs. Incubation lasts 16 to 19 days, and the young leave the nest after a further 20 to 23 days. In the wild, life expectancy is up to 17 years.

Intelligence and vocal mimicry

The jay is among the most intelligent birds in Europe. Its scientific name Garrulus means “chatterer” and refers to its varied repertoire of calls. It can imitate the voices of other bird species with uncanny accuracy, including the call of the common buzzard, and uses this ability both to warn its own kind and to confuse other animals. Its piercing alarm call, a harsh “rrrach”, warns all forest dwellers, from roe deer to squirrels, of approaching danger. It is, in effect, the forest's acoustic alarm system.

The “forester of the woods”: a key ecological service

Jay-sown trees: planting forests without human hands

The jay's most ecologically significant trait is its caching behaviour. In autumn it gathers acorns, beechnuts and hazelnuts on a large scale and buries them in hundreds of hiding places in the forest floor. A single bird can store up to 3,000 acorns per autumn, carrying them in its throat pouch and bill over distances ranging from several hundred metres to a few kilometres from where they were found to the cache (Waldwissen.net, avi-fauna.info). The cognitive achievement is remarkable: the birds remember the precise location, quantity and type of their stores, and can even find them again beneath a blanket of snow.

Yet not every cache is found again in winter. Every forgotten acorn can grow into a young tree. This natural forest regeneration by the jay is known in forestry by the technical term 'Hähersaat' (jay sowing) (Waldwissen.net, Brandenburg). Foresters in Germany and Austria use this mechanism deliberately: they set up so-called 'Hähertische' (jay tables), on which they offer the jay acorns and beechnuts so that it buries them in the surrounding forest. In Brandenburg, the jay is officially recognised as a helper in forest conversion and has been chosen as the emblem bird of the forest conversion campaign (Waldwissen.net, AG Wildtiere position paper, 2021).

Why the oak needs the jay

Acorns are heavy seeds that, left to themselves, fall only a few metres from the parent tree. Without an animal disperser, the oak cannot colonise new sites. In central Europe, the jay is the most important long-distance disperser of acorns. It transports them over distances no other animal can match, and buries them at precisely the depth (2 to 5 centimetres) that is optimal for germination. Without the jay, there would be significantly fewer oaks in Swiss forests.

Climate change makes the jay more important than ever

As climate change advances, the oak is becoming massively more important to Swiss forestry. As a drought-resistant, heat-loving tree species, it is being promoted in many silviculture programmes as a «tree of the future». The 2025 Forest Report by the FOEN and WSL stresses that more climate-resilient tree species such as oak and maple are crucial for adapting the forest 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 der vorlaute Eichenpflanzer). It is an unparalleled paradox that Switzerland simultaneously releases this natural forest regenerator for killing.

More on this: Dossier: Hunting and Biodiversity

Hunting: 19th-century pest control

Legal situation

Under the Federal Hunting Act, the Eurasian jay is a bird species that may be hunted all year round (Art. 5 para. 3 JSG); the Hunting Ordinance sets a closed season from 16 February to 31 July (Art. 3bis JSV). Together with the carrion crow, magpie and common raven, it is classed as small game. The cantons may extend the closed season or protect the species. In the canton of Bern, the Eurasian jay is among the species that may be killed during the closed season as part of «special kills», together with carrion crows, magpies, foxes and badgers (IG Wild beim Wild, Fuchsmassaker in der Schweiz).

The scale of the killing

The Federal Hunting Statistics list the Eurasian jay separately: in 2025, 1,007 Eurasian jays were killed, 341 of them in Grisons, 215 in Ticino and 138 in Valais. In 2024 the figure was 1,125 (Ticino 422), and in the 2017 irruption year as many as 2,684. From 2016 to 2025, 14,422 Eurasian jays died through recreational hunting (Swiss Hunting Statistics 2025). As early as 1998, the BUWAL found that half of all birds shot were carrion crows and Eurasian jays (BUWAL press release, 1998). BirdLife Switzerland criticised the shooting of Eurasian jays as «hard to understand» (BirdLife Schweiz, Jagdstatistik). In the canton of Grisons, 770 Eurasian jays were shot in 2017, compared with 192 in 2016 (Südostschweiz, 2018; Federal Hunting Statistics). Watson.ch noted: «Birds that seem unusual even to those unfamiliar with hunting, such as magpies and Eurasian 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. Recreational hunters regarded it as "vermin" ("Raubzeug"), an animal harmful to managed game that was not to be hunted as quarry but exterminated as a pest (AG Wildtiere, position paper on the Eurasian jay, 2021). In Germany, the term "Raubzeug" was struck from the Federal Hunting Act in 1976 as a "defamatory and unnecessary expression". In Austria it is still used for the Eurasian jay. In Switzerland the narrative lives on: the Eurasian jay is slandered as a "nest robber" and "egg thief" that supposedly harms songbird and small-game populations and therefore has to be "regulated".

What the narrative leaves out

In spring and summer the Eurasian jay does indeed eat the eggs and nestlings of other species. This behaviour is real, but it is a natural part of the forest ecosystem and, over millennia of coevolution, has not wiped out a single bird species. The main threats to songbirds are habitat loss caused by agricultural intensification, pesticide use that destroys their insect food supply, glass façades, domestic cats and road traffic, not the Eurasian jay. Criminalising a bird as a "nest robber" because it feeds naturally is pseudo-biological nonsense, used to legitimise the hunting of corvids.

More on this: Why recreational hunting fails as population control

Diet and ecological function: far more than acorns

An omnivore with a seasonal change of diet

The Eurasian jay is a versatile omnivore. In spring and summer animal food dominates: caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers and other insects make up the bulk of its diet. It also takes mice, lizards and, occasionally, eggs and nestlings. In autumn and winter it switches to plant food: acorns make up as much as 70 per cent of its diet, supplemented by beechnuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts, berries and grain (avi-fauna.info, Waldwissen.net).

Insect control

Thanks to the high proportion of insects in its summer diet, the Eurasian jay acts as a natural pest controller in the forest. Preying on caterpillars, in particular those of the oak processionary moth and the winter moth, benefits forestry. This benefit is not taken into account in any hunting plan.

The warning function

The jay's loud alarm call warns not only its own kind but the entire forest ecosystem of danger. Roe deer, hares, squirrels and other songbirds all benefit from its vigilance. Recreational hunters find precisely this warning function a nuisance: the jay 'gives away' the recreational hunter creeping through the forest. That a wild animal should be shot because it warns other wild animals is a perversion of the very concept of hunting, and requires no further comment.

What needs to change

Nationwide protection of the jay: A bird that promotes forest regeneration as a natural tree planter, regulates insect populations and protects the entire ecosystem as an alarm-giver must not be hunted. The jay should be struck from the list of huntable species. What is celebrated in Brandenburg as the emblematic bird of forest conversion must not be treated as 'vermin' in Switzerland.
Recognition of its contribution to silviculture: Forestry must officially recognise the jay's contribution to the spread of oaks and beeches and integrate it into silviculture programmes. 'Jay tables' on the German model should also be introduced in Switzerland to promote natural forest regeneration in a targeted way.
Abolition of small-game hunting of corvids: The hunting of jays, magpies and carrion crows has no basis in wildlife biology and serves the leisure pleasure of recreational hunters. The Swiss Animal Protection STS is right to demand a critical examination of the sense and purpose of hunting these species.
An end to 'special kills' during the closed season: In the canton of Bern, the jay is also killed during the closed season as part of special kills. This practice undermines the purpose of the closed season and must be ended immediately.
Research into the jay's role in Swiss forests: There are no Swiss-specific studies on the quantitative significance of jay seed dispersal for oak regeneration. Given climate change and the growing importance of the oak as a tree species for the future, this research gap urgently needs to be closed.

Talking points

'The jay is a nest robber and harms songbird populations.' In spring and summer, the Eurasian jay occasionally eats eggs and fledglings. This behaviour is natural and part of the forest ecosystem, which has functioned for millennia. No songbird species is endangered by the jay. The real threats to songbirds are habitat loss, pesticides, glass façades and cats, not a corvid feeding naturally. Vilifying the jay as a 'nest robber' to justify shooting it is the 19th-century 'vermin' narrative, which was abolished in Germany in 1976 and lives on in Switzerland.

“The jay warns game animals about the recreational hunter and therefore disrupts hunting.” That a wild animal is shot because it warns other wild animals about humans is an admission that recreational hunting is not compatible with the ecosystem but works against it. The jay's warning function is an ecological service that benefits predators just as it does recreational hunters. It is not a reason for shooting it but an argument for protecting it.

“The jay is common and not endangered, so it can be hunted.” That a species is not endangered does not mean that hunting it is sensible or necessary. The jay causes no damage that would justify shooting it. Its ecological value as a tree planter, insect regulator and alarm-giver outweighs any conceivable 'damage' many times over. Hunting a species merely because it is common has no reasonable justification within the meaning of the Animal Welfare Act.

“Hunting the jay has no effect on the population.” If shooting has no effect on the population, it also serves no purpose. A kill without effect and without benefit is pointless killing. The reasonable justification that the Animal Welfare Act requires for killing an animal must exist before the shot is fired, not in the finding afterwards that it had no consequences.

“In irruption years, jays have to be shot because too many migrate in.” Irruptions are a natural phenomenon triggered by poor food availability in the birds' regions of origin. The immigrating birds distribute thousands of acorns across Switzerland and thereby contribute to forest regeneration. Misusing irruption years as an argument for intensified kills turns biology on its head: nature sends free tree planters, and recreational hunters shoot them.

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Related dossiers

sources

FOEN, Federal Hunting Statistics: Eurasian jay 2016–2025, kill and special kill by canton, accessed on 21.10.2026 (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 Act (birdlife.ch)
Waldwissen.net/WSL: Native forest birds, the Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius)
Waldwissen.net: Markwart, the cheeky oak planter (jay sowings and jay tables in North Rhine-Westphalia)
Swiss Ornithological Institute Sempach: Distribution of the Eurasian jay 2013–2016; Population estimate of breeding birds in Switzerland, update 2013–2016 (60,000–75,000 pairs)
Südostschweiz (2018): Hunters set a new record (770 Eurasian jays in Grisons)
AG Wildtiere (2021): Position paper on the Eurasian jay (ag-wildtiere.com)
Watson.ch (2023): Hunting, how many animals are shot in Switzerland for game consumption
IG Wild beim Wild (2020/2026): Fox massacre in Switzerland, Swiss hunting statistics 2025 (wildbeimwild.com)
State of Brandenburg: Eurasian jay leaflet (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), version of 1 February 2025 (fedlex.admin.ch)
Ordinance on Hunting and the Protection of Wild Mammals and Birds (JSV, SR 922.01), Art. 3bis (fedlex.admin.ch)
Animal Welfare Act (TSchG, SR 455)

Our Standard

The Eurasian jay is the unsung hero of Swiss forests. It plants oaks where humans do not. It warns the forest of danger. It regulates insect populations. It is intelligent, brightly coloured and a master of vocal mimicry. Forestry owes it more than it realises: without jay sowings, many of Europe's oak stands would never have come into being. At a time when climate change is turning the oak into a tree species of the future, the jay's free labour is more valuable than ever. And yet it is shot in Switzerland as part of small-game hunting, around a thousand birds a year. Because it occasionally eats a bird's egg. Because it "betrays" the recreational hunter. Because it has been classed as "vermin" since the 19th century. This classification is a relic of an outdated view of nature that divides animals into "useful" and "harmful" and releases the latter for shooting. The Eurasian jay deserves no bullet; it deserves protection. This dossier is updated continuously as new figures, studies or political developments require.

More on the topic of recreational hunting: In our dossier overview we bring together fact checks, analyses and background reports.