>On our recent vacation to Oregon, Steller's Jays were indeed everywhere (and
>noisily so), with one major exception being Sauvie Island. On Sauvie Island,
>we spent nearly an entire day birding and saw only a single Steller's Jays.
> The jays that seemed to be all over the place around houses, etc, were
>Scrub Jays. This conformed to the F&W brochure, which listed Steller's Jays
>as uncommon and Scrub Jays as common. This seemed especially weird to me
>because the scrub jays are at the northern end of their range, so you
>wouldn't expect them to be outcompeting Steller's, especially since we saw
>far more (almost exclusively) Steller's in the rest of Oregon. Anyone know
>what's going on there?
>
>Teresa Michelsen

Steller's Jay is typically a bird of conifer forests, Scrub Jay of
broadleaf (primarily oak) forests. Sauvie Island, as I recall, has a
minimum of conifers. This, of course, is the time of year when Steller's
are most widespread, as individuals (immatures only?) are dispersing (or
migrating) away from their breeding areas.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416