inyon Jays and piñon pines share an intimate relationship. The cerulean corvids live in the trees year-round, nesting in their branches and eating piñon seeds. In return, the birds disperse seeds, helping the trees proliferate. But drought, beetle infestations, and warming temperatures have pushed both species into a snowballing decline. Over the past 40 years the Pinyon Jay population has shrunk by 85 percent across its range from Baja California to Wyoming, spurring the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife to petition for a federal endangered species
