Tweets: A SCRUB JAY has been regularly visiting my backyard feeders in
the SE corner of Lacey. I first saw the bird Saturday morning 10/9/99 at
7:57 a.m. The bird came repeatedly throughout the day. There were
several "face-offs" with the three STELLARS JAYS that were already
regular feeders. The SCRUB JAY appeared again on Sunday 10/10/99, first
at 8:15 a.m. and then every 20 minutes or so until 10:00. The bird also
stopped by a time or two in the afternoon, but it appeared to me there
were fewer visits. Monday through Friday I had to leave for work before
sunrise, and Monday through Wednesday did not return to the house until
late in the afternoon. On Thursday and Friday I was home by 4:00 and
looked for the SCRUB JAY but did not see him. During the week the
weather had cooled off. As of 7:30 a.m. Saturday 10/16/99 it was 28
degrees F. The STELLARS JAYS were at the feeders first, at about 8:00,
but the SCRUB JAY appeared at 8:27. The SCRUB JAY visited the feeders
frequently during the next hour, along with the STELLARS JAYS. They
seemed to have worked out a d?tente. The SCRUB JAY continued to appear
off and on through the morning, and I was away from the house in the
afternoon. Today, Sunday 10/17/99, same drill exactly, except that the
SCRUB JAY arrived just after the STELLARS JAYS around 8:00 a.m. The
location is in the Chamber Prairie "Cold Zone" micro climate, just a
little north of the Ruddell Road/Yelm Highway 3-way intersection, and
just across Ruddell Road from Southwick Lake. It is a typical Lacey
suburb, densely built but with nearby bodies of water, undeveloped
grassy fields and undeveloped shrubby fields (Scotch Broom). I realize
SCRUB JAYS have become much more common up and down Puget Sound the last
few years, and I've seen a couple at various times in downtown Olympia,
but the last thing I expected to see Saturday morning (the ninth) was a
SCRUB JAY shrieking and hopping along my neighbor's roof checking out my
feeders.

Bill Ward
Lacey WA
wward at mail.cco.net