I'll jump in briefly here as I did some atlasing work on Sauvie Island
this summer--I think good points have been made by others already on this
topic.
1) On Steller's vs. Scrub on Sauvie Island--Scrub Jays are by far the
more plentiful birds on the Island as the habitat is much more open and
oaky on most places. Steller's Jays are findable near Virginia Lake in
the large evergreens there as well as on parts of the island nearer the
hills. They come down into some of the evergreens near Fred's Marina,
which is just across the southern tip of the island. Steller's are much
more common in the hills to the west--indeed, in the times I;ve spent
golfing at the club which is just south of the Columbia-Multnomah line, I
can only remember seeing Steller's on the course.
2) From what I understand, Lewis' Woodpecker formerly nested on Sauvie
Island, but most feel starlings forced them out. Same I believe with
bluebirds. In my consultations with those more knowledgeable than me in
dealing with my atlas lists, we're not expecting either of these birds to
be on the island any more (one can hope though). In Yamhill County this
summer, I did observe some Acorns and Starlings battling over nest
holes. The acorns were quite aggressive in keeping starling from feeding
their nestlings. It took the starlings about 10 minutes and several food
bits to get to the nest hole. Then of course there was the acorn
woodpecker in Madera Canyon who kept caching acorns in a dumpster
receptacle. He wasn't ever going to get them out, but he kept plopping
them in that hole. I counted at least a hundred when I open the top.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ray Korpi "The intimate revelations of young
Wk: Clark College men . . . are usually plagiaristic and
Vancouver, WA marred by obvious suppressions."
Hm: Portland, OR --F. Scott Fitzgerald
address: rkorpi at clark.edu _The_Great_Gatsby_