Wayne, OBOLinks, and Tweeters,

Western Scrub-Jays are quite common in Skamania County, WA along the
Columbia River, and in southwestern Klickitat County, and have been
for some time. I expect that they occur just as far up the Columbia on
the Oregon side. As noted in previous discussions on OBOL, this
species is expanding its range northward, eastward, and westward
(toward the Oregon coast) in the Pacific Northwest.

For those of you that don't have it, I strongly recommend the book
"Breeding Birds of Washington State: Location Data and Predicted
Distributions" by Michael R. Smith, Philip W. Mattocks, Jr., and Kelly
M. Cassidy (Seattle Audubon Society Publications in Zoology, 1997).
This book summarizes the results of the incomplete Washington State
Breeding Bird Atlas, and by showing the distribution of suitable
breeding habitat, gives a very good picture of expected breeding
distribution of most bird species-- even for parts of the state that
were poorly covered during the Atlas. It is the most up-to-date
account of the distribution of breeding birds in Washington. I believe
the book is still in print.

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops, BC
wayne_weber at bc.sympatico.ca



-----Original Message-----
From: Wayne Hoffman <whoffman at PIONEER.NET>
To: Multiple recipients of list OBOL <OBOL at BOBO.NWS.ORST.EDU>
Date: Saturday, November 25, 2000 6:14 PM
Subject: Bingen, Hood River


>I visited Bingen and Hood River Friday, 24 Nov. with my father. We
did
>not find the Tufted Duck. Off the Luhr Jensen building on the Hood
>River watershed was a raft of 250+ scaup that included a bright male
>Surf Scoter and 2 Western Grebes. On the riverbank next to the River
>Boat dock was a flock of 20 Greater White-fronted Geese, mostly
>juveniles. I was surprised to see several W. Scrub jays in the
area...
>how long have they been in that area? An adult peregrine (looked
like
>tundrius) was at Bingen Point.
>