The Jay is about of the size of the Jackdaw. It is easily distinguished by its pinkish-greyish upper- and underparts and a black edged bright blue patch on its wings. When the bird is nervous, a tuft can be noticed on its head.
The Eurasian Jay breeds in coniferous, mixed and broad-leaved forests preferring forests with thick vegetation on the ground. At nesting time the Jay mainly lives in spruce-dominated mixed forests as the nest is most frequently built in a spruce in the height of up to 10 metres. Both parents build it into a hardly noticeable place. It is rather flat consisting of twigs outside and softer material, mosses and grasses inside. The eggs are greyish-green with brownish pattern. The young are altricial and they leave the nest at the age of three weeks. Parents take care of the young until autumn. At that time they wander around together.
The Jay feeds on mixed food. It eats plants - acorns and all kinds
of berries - mainly in autumn, especially in winter. It stores acorns, sometimes quite
large quantities, for winter as well. There can be up to four kilograms of them in a
repository. Some of the stores are left unfound and the acorns begin to germinate in
spring. The Eurasian Jay feeds on insects, including pests, for instance cock-chafers, and
other beetles in spring and summer. It sometimes eats other animals, several small
rodents, birds and their eggs, lizards and frogs. The Jay is a very useful bird for
forests by eating pests and spreading acrons and it is not comparable with the damage it
does by devastating the nests of the Passerines. The Jay is not under protection.