Tweeters,



This message is partly in response to Jile Hulme (if that's your name--
please sign your messages!) and others who may be confused about whether or
not it is worth reporting Western Scrub-Jays.



This species is very common in southwestern Washington, and has been
expanding its range northward for at least 50 years. It is much less common
in Thurston and Pierce Counties. In King County, it is uncommon to rare,
although widely distributed. To the best of my knowledge, the species has
never been recorded breeding north of King County. In Snohomish, Skagit,
Whatcom, Island, and San Juan Counties, in British Columbia, and in most of
Washington east of the Cascades, it is an extremely rare vagrant.



This fall, there has been an unprecedented invasion of Scrub-Jays into areas
north of King County. In southwestern BC, we have had reports of Scrub-Jays
from at least 7 different locations since mid-September (not counting Roger
Craik's bird in Maple Ridge which has been there for more than a year). This
is a species with no more than 10 records in all of BC prior to this year.
There has also been an impressive flurry of sightings in Whatcom, Skagit,
and Snohomish counties, plus others even farther afield such as the one in
East Wenatchee and one in northwestern Montana. I would be willing to bet
that there have been as many Scrub-Jay sightings, or nearly as many, this
fall alone north of King County as in all previous years combined. This is
a remarkable event.



I don't have time to go into details right now, but I suspect the cause is a
very poor acorn crop in western Oregon and perhaps in the Garry Oak areas of
Washington. (Contrary to opinions I expressed earlier, there seems to be
very strong evidence now of a poor acorn crop this year.) Whatever the
cause, the pattern is very obvious, and I would strongly encourage anyone
seeing Western Scrub-Jays IN AREAS WHERE THEY ARE NOT USUALLY FOUND to
report them here.



P.S. to Dennis Paulson-- You will be pleased to know that, with better
information now, I believe that there really is something to your "acorn
shortage" theory!

However, although it would explain the invasion of Western Scrub-Jays into
areas north of King County, I still believe it has little or nothing to do
with this year's Lewis's Woodpecker reports in western WA, as that species
breeds almost entirely in areas which don't have any native oaks.



All the best,



Wayne C. Weber

Delta, BC

contopus at telus.net