Hello all...We live a few miles south of Port Townsend, above Discovery Bay..
This year we?ve had a juvenile Red-Tail Hawk in the neighborhood and were
lucky enough to seen him make a shallow dive into a field close to us and
snare a wood rat a couple of weeks ago. We often hear him also...making
that distinctive Red-Tail, high-pitched, raspy shriek (as in any number of
Western movie scenes). Today I heard the cry close by but couldn?t spot
him. Heard it again, then again. I went inside and got by binocs and began
scanning the sky and trees around the place. Aiming toward the sound I saw
a Steller?s Jay in a nearby evergreen and saw him put his head forward and
make the call...a pretty darned good imitation of a Red-Tail. There were a
couple of other Steller?s in the general area, but not much else. Has
anyone heard/seen a Steller?s Jay do this and does anyone know why they do
it?

Gary Cummins
Port Townsend, WA
casacummins at yahoo.com