On Nov 17, 2009, at 12:59 PM, Brien Meilleur wrote:

> For info, I would guess that you probably saw one of the birds from
> a small resident group of Western Scrub Jays that has been in the
> area, and reproducing, between E. Union and E. Cherry and between
> 10th Ave. and 15th Ave., just East of the main Seattle U. campus,
> for at least five years now (perhaps most often seen in the alley
> behind 13th Ave. E.).
> Brien Meilleur

Thanks Brian. That would probably account for the others I've reported
before on Cap Hill.

I looked at the CBC data. There is a sharp gradient in occurrence of
Western Scrub Jay in the Western Puget Sound. The first CBC record was
in a single bird in 1995 for both Seattle and Tacoma. I don't see any
reported north of Seattle. They're 10x more common in Tacoma than in
Seattle and the surrounding suburbs and a bit more common in the Kent
CBC and more so in Olympia. And if you go to south or south-west WA
(say Cowlitz Co CBC) they're 10x more common than Tacoma. Then about
another 4x more common in Salem and Eugene as you head south into
northern CA.

<http://cbc.audubon.org/cbccurrent/species_count_display.jsp?species=wesjay&year=109&region=US-WA
>

Based on last years CBC data they're a rather uncommon bird in Seattle
in late fall/early winter: 0.015 per party hour or once every 66 hours
of birding (for the sort of birders who do the CBC) or about 10x less
common than a Cooper's Hawk in the same CBC.

<http://cbc.audubon.org/cbccurrent/current_table_display.jsp?circle_id=L12816&query=new&year=109
>

And that's why I posted. Perhaps not an exciting bird but a rather
uncommon one. Even if I now know that I'm close to their territory.

Thanks for most of the comments.
--
Kevin Purcell
kevinpurcell at pobox.com
twitter: at kevinpurcell