Scrub Jay stewardship -
how to be a good neighbor.
how to be a good neighbor.
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If you live in an active Florida Scrub-Jay area, please consider restoring and maintaining your yard in native scrub habitat. Planting scrub vegetation – scrub oaks, scrub palmetto, and native scrub flowering plants – helps Scrub-Jays find their preferred foods. Various scrub oaks and plants are available at Sandhill Nursery in Arcadia, FL. Leave bare-ground sandy patches distributed among the scrub oaks so Scrub-Jays can bury the acorns they harvest in fall months and dig them up to eat during the colder winter months when insects and other foods aren’t available. Keep scrub oaks trimmed to about 6 feet tall and pine trees to fewer than 3 per acre so predators that kill Scrub-Jays have nowhere to hide.
Also, please protect scrub-jays from your pets. Respect leash laws in your community and protect areas being used by nesting scrub-jays from domestic animals (cats especially).
And finally, restrict the use of pesticides. Scrub-jays feed on insects usually considered pests around golf courses and homes. Pesticides may limit or contaminate food used by the jays. Reduce the use of pesticides as much as possible.
Also, please protect scrub-jays from your pets. Respect leash laws in your community and protect areas being used by nesting scrub-jays from domestic animals (cats especially).
And finally, restrict the use of pesticides. Scrub-jays feed on insects usually considered pests around golf courses and homes. Pesticides may limit or contaminate food used by the jays. Reduce the use of pesticides as much as possible.