Hi All:

I would add to Jim's post - you will enjoy them, too.
They nested somewhere mid-block in my Ballard neighborhood last year and this year, and I have had so much fun watching them, especially this summer when I observed a feeding close enough to see the pink mouth linings on the screeching young.
There are no oaks around where I live; perhaps the unshelled peanuts that they are getting somewhere are a good enough substitute for acorns.
I have not been able to pin down the exact nest trees, other than somewhere in a couple of adjacent yards with dense conifers, deciduous trees, and dense shrubs. If anyone is seeing them use a particular kind of tree for nesting, I would love to hear about it. My guesstimate in my neighborhood would be in dense, shrubby conifers.


Ruth Taylor
Seattle/Ballard

rutht AT seanet dot com


-----Original Message-----
From: Jim%20Flynn <merlinmania at comcast.net>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Friday, October 17, 2008 11:10 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Coming soon to a tree near you


...Scrub Jay that is. They continue to become more common, bit by bit, in western

Washington. Thursday morning while driving through the Georgetown neighborhood

of Seattle on a pre-work errand I spotted a long-tailed bird fly to the top of a

telephone pole at the Shell station, corner of Corson and Michigan streets. I fantasized

that it could be a Mockingbird and quikly pulled in to the gas station and walked over

to look. I saw it just long enough to realize it was a Scrub Jay but it dissapeared quickly.

As I waited around a few minutes to see if it would reappear I looked around for an

oak tree. I have found several in Renton to be associated with ornamental oaks, such

as the ones near Renton Cinemas along Grady Way (near the S-curves of I-405) and

one frequenting Pin Oaks along 2nd Ave S. and Rainier Ave S. about 5 years ago.



I didn't see any oaks near the gas station phone pole but then I spotted the jay flying

back to the phone pole from the NW (?) direction where there are a lot of oaks planted

as street trees. This is the area in front of the Herfy's Burger place and other businesses

at Corson/Michigan. The jay came back to the pole carrying an acorn which it

proceeded to hammer open for breakfast.



Anywhere you see a good stand of oaks, native or (mostly) otherwise, you might

keep your eyes peeled for Scrub Jays.



good birding,



Jim Flynn

Seattle West