..............Those Steller's Jays--Yes, the ones who dive-bomb and
tease my cat:"Artie", seem to have left 4-5 days ago. Since this is low
elevation (350 ft.), I am not certain if they migrate anywhere , but
every fall they leave our abundant fir trees in our mobile-home park,
only to return in the spring.
..............I will miss those noisy, precosious blue birds. They have
acquired a taste for dry cat food, and will empty part of the dish of
these convenient-sized morsels (which I have outside for my 2 cats when
they are roaming my yard on occasion when I am home. The jays will sit
on my back porch rail and wait to see what I will do when I see them.
..............My backyard neighbor(who is an elderly lady) Had 2 feeders
for the small birds(Finches, Chickadees, ertc.) by her back window. The
Jays are too big to be able to stand on the perches, so they ingeniously
butt and bump the feeders till the seeds fall out to the ground, after
which they dine on the fallen seeds(along with the overjoyed Juncos and
Robins, who incidently would wait patiently till the Jays knocked the
seeds to the ground, then rush in to dine). The elderly lady got "ticked
off" over this, and in a fit of mutterings to something like "If I had a
shotgun I would shoot all those jays!!!!" (now, now!!!!), she *removed*
the feeders. Now I don't see our other fine little feathered friends
anymore.
...............Anyway, I will eagerly await the amusing antics of these
Jays next spring, as there are several pairs that nest in the fir trees
up and down the street every summer. It perks me up when I come home
after a long, tiring day at work, and observe the "Ballet of the Jays"!!

Gerald Hamilton
Brush Prairie, Wash.(just no. of Portland, Or.)
gerald at e-z.net