What a coincidence.

Just this morning, in the University District, I heard a Blue Jay's
familiar "Queedle-queedle," looked up, and saw four starlings sitting in
the tree overhead. I was wondering - "now where did you spend the
summer?" at the one singing, thinking he'd wandered in from parts north
and east. Maybe he just came over from Bellevue...

He was a very good mimic, incidentally, and went on to make a couple other
"non-starling," though unidentified, noises before I was out of earshot.
If the what I took to be a near-perfect Blue Jay imitation is actually a
starling call, as Ray Korpi suggests, I've never noticed that one before.
Funny how mimicry seems to be an individual thing with Starlings, some of
whom are quite good mimics, and most of whom just do the
screech-buzz-whistle-screech thing all the time. Oh, and I suppose I
should leave a middle category for the 10% of all starlings who imitate
Kildeers and nothing else.

Chris Hill
Everett, WA
cehill at u.washington.edu

On Mon, 17 Nov 1997, Raymond Korpi wrote:

> On Mon, 17 Nov 1997, Steve Mansfield wrote:
>
> > While I was in downtown Bellevue waiting for the tester for my motorcycle
> > skills test, I heard what I could have sworn to be the 'bicycle bell' sound
> > of a blue jay. I've heard the same call come from blue jays hundreds of
> > times back east, and I know we've had reports of them in Eastern
> > Washington, but I was under the impression that this would be *way* too far
> > West for them. It wen ton for about 10-15 minutes, and I couldn't see the
> > source, and I didn't have binocs with me. Are there any birds in this area
> > which have a similar call?
> >
> > Please tell me I'm not crazy....
> >
> Starlings often make a call very, very similar to this. RK
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Ray Korpi "Television doesn't allow much depth."
> Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA --Dan Rather, interviewed by
> rkorpi at clark.edu Don Imus, 11/6/97
> Compiler, Portland, OR CBC, January 3, 1998
> President, Oregon Field Ornithologists
> --New members always welcome--
>
>