Jay

backblip

Last week I posted a picture of another Eurasian Jay, and moaned about how difficult they're to blip. Today's Jay made a lot of noise, and stayed perched on his Eurasian yew (Taxus baccata) while I gaped at him.

Looking at this blip, I noticed something rather odd. The Eurasian yew has many toxic parts, and horses have a very low tolerance towards the tree's major toxin, the alkaloid taxane. Now I wonder why this one was planted next to a riding path. I think I've got to take another look at it.

If you noticed the relation between the botanical name of the tree, 'Taxus', and the poison, 'taxane', you're my friend. ;-)

Last week's blip...
Eurasian Jay March 2011