This is bird note.

Imagine you're camping in the mountains, surrounded by pines, larch, and spruce.

The very first bird you might see is a Canada jay as it boldly swoops down into your camp.

This handsome jay has a smoky gray back and wings, silver gray underparts, a tiny black beak, and big black eyes that seem to miss nothing, especially food.

But the one food Canada Jays don't eat is conifer seeds.

So why do they live in conifer forests?

It turns out, the Jays hide food in conifer needles and tuck it under the bark of trees with their sticky saliva.

Like other Jays that cash food, Canada Jays have terrific visual memories.

They can find thousands of hidden

tidbits months later. Canada Jays are so good at storing up food. They even start nesting

before the winter ends. The Jays can feed their nestlings entirely from the food they've stored

away. And unlike most other birds that nest in spring and summer,

Canada Jays spend that time cashing food for the next winter.

For Bird Note, I'm Mary McCann.