Subject: [Tweeters] Birding is Weird Sometimes (Seattle Magpie)
Date: Jan 10 23:49:33 2010
From: Mike and MerryLynn - m.denny at charter.net
Hello All,
I too have always wondered why magpies cannot survive the west side of the
Cascades in Oregon and Washington. After years of watching interactions at
the zone of transition between Scrub Jays and crows VS Black Billed Magpies
I have come to understand that once magpies enter the oak woodlands in
central and western Klickitat Co. in Washington and Wasco Co. in Oregon that
they are constantly harassed by both crows and scrub jays. and when scrub
jays or eastern blue jays enter the Columbia Basin they are special targets
of magpies. So it would seem that there is a recognized boundary or species
specific regions where the dominate corvid opts not to allow an any other
corvid entrance. Crows in eastern Washington have come to an understanding
with magpies, but not with ravens and that battle persists.
Later Mike