** Steve wrote -
>
> Fair enough, however still, they're intelligent birds, and my understanding
> is that most of the Westward movement appears to be up north of the great
> plains and in Canada. The planting of trees in the Great Plains should
> have nothing to do with that. I would think that the plantings would
> accelerate the Wesward migration further South.

Bingo. We are forgetting our physiogeography. The Great Plains extend only
marginally northward into Canada, mostly into s. Saskatchewan, and only a bit
into s.e. Alberta and s.w. Manitoba. The jays are not using the plains as a
conduit. They are using the vast belt of boreal forest rimming the northern
edge of the prairie which starts in s.e. Manitoba, cuts across c. Saskatchewan,
and extends into n.c. Alberta, n.e. BC, and extreme s.e. Yukon. So Steve is
correct. Note also that this is likely to be a unispecies movement - there is
simply not enough of the dense coniferous forest favoured by Steller's Jays
to entice them very far east of the Rockies, IMO.

- Jack


Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca