Hi tweeters,

Sam Agnew of Spanaway just called me with the most amazing information. He
has a mixed Scrub X Steller's Jay pair in his yard (they hung around
together all winter), and the first fledgling, which he thinks is indeed a
hybrid, came to his feeder yesterday (6/17). He thinks there are others,
because the adults are still carrying food up into a tree. He doesn't have
a camera, but I've asked him to ask Ruth Sullivan to try to photograph the
fledglings when they come into his yard.

I didn't ask Sam how he felt about birders coming to see these birds, but I
would say if anyone was interested, you should wait until all the young
have fledged and, if we're lucky, continue coming to his feeder.

I think it's been mentioned here already that hybridization is more likely
where one species is common and the other rare, so the rare species can
find a mate only from the other species.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 253-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 253-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html