Blue Jays are backyard celebrities – loud and active – with show-off colors. If they had thumbs, they’d probably post selfies on Instagram.

This time of year, Blue Jays are focused on acorns in the forests around Lake Martin. One can carry up to five acorns at a time by putting three in its throat, another in its mouth and holding one more between the tips of its beak. Scientists have recorded Blue Jays that cached 3,000 to 5,000 acorns for wintertime meals. Because many Blue Jays bury acorns in the ground, they have gotten credit for spreading oak forests throughout their range, which encompass the eastern half of the United States and up into Canada.