Tweeters,
Scrub Jays have been in the Olympia neighborhood of Division/Conger
and points further south down Conger for at least 2 years. I live on
Conger and have been waiting for them to arrive in our yard so I can add
them to the house list before my spouse does. No luck yet. In 1990-92,
we lived in a west Olympia neighborhood of Rogers & Fourth, just up the
hill from the old St. Peter's Hospital. We saw a pair hanging out by the
old hospital during breeding season and were pretty confident they had a
nest way up in the conifers nearby. We also got both Scrub and Steller's
Jay at our backyard feeder. I remember watching a time when a pair of
each arrived in the yard at about the same time. Up to the point,
Steller's had ruled the roost and I was intrigued to watch the
territorial/dominance ballet between the two pairs. The Stellers won
first take at the feeder, while the Scrub pair kept a respectful distance.
I think the Stellers won this encounter because they were long
established in the neighborhood. But I believe they are quite dependent
on clumps of older conifers to prosper, whereas Scrubs seem to have
broader habitat preferences. In the long run in NW cities, unless our
stands of older conifers are protected, I expect Scrub Jays will become
much more common.
Janet Partlow
elwha.evergreen.edu

On Mon, 27 May 1996 salix at halcyon.com wrote:

> James, Peter, and Tweeters,
> Western Scrub-Jays arrived in Olympia recently. I believe 1981 was the
> first record (Bill Tweit), but by the mid-80s they were turning up in
> several spots on a regular basis. At present, several discrete areas support
> nesting birds. These include the areas where James and Peter made their
> observations.
> The scrub-jay expansion in Washington ought to be documented. I feebly
> attempted to begin that process, but got caught up in other things. Anyone
> interested in taking up the topic is welcome to my files.
> Meanwhile, I encourage Olympians in particular to note specific
> locations, number of jays, and behaviors, as well as oft-visited areas where
> jays do not occur. This distributional shift is happening right under the
> noses of western Washington birders.
> --
> Scott Richardson
> NE Seattle
> salix at halcyon.com
>
>