Dear Tim and Tweeters,

That is a good question.

I have no answer, but I can say that I have heard Steller's Jays imitate Red-tailed Hawks in Washington and California. It certainly is a widespread phenomenon.

They seem mainly to imitate this one other species--unlike Starlings and Mockingbirds, for example, which imitate so many other species.

So, my additional question is, do Steller's Jays down in California ever imitate Red-shouldered Hawks? It seems to me that Blue Jays down in Florida do--in fact, their basic "jay jay jay" call reminds me of the RSHA call.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman, WA

garybletsch at yahoo.com



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