My niece asked me this birding question and, since I don't know the answer,
I am passing it on to you all. She lives off a greenbelt on the hill between
Federal Way and Auburn and gets a lot of bird activity at her feeder
including occasional sightings of raptors. All summer she has heard a
red-tailed hawk cry over her house but when she goes out with her binos,
there is nothing there but a Steller's Jay going, "Shack, shack, shack" like
mad. She wants to know if Jays mimic other birds. I told her I didn't think
so but wasn't sure. What do all you canny ornithologists etc. know about
this?

Rahne Kirkham
Federal Way, Washington
rahnefall at sbcglobal.net