Subject: [Tweeters] Scrub Jays - greater Seattle area - comments - questions
Date: Oct 7 11:36:16 2014
From: Stewart Wechsler - ecostewart at gmail.com


On yesterday's exceptionally beautiful day (sunny, mid 70's) I was pleased
to take a bike ride from West Seattle to South Park and Georgetown (south
and north of Boeing field) and back. I knew I would see Scrub Jays, as
they are common in both South Park and Georgetown. I have to say that the
habitat there seems a bit "scrubbier" to me than the rest of our area.
While I have seen and heard the reports of Scrub Jays elsewhere in greater
Seattle in an occasion spot here and there, where one or a pair would stay,
I know of no place, other than Georgetown / South Park where Scrub Jays are
common north of Thurston and maybe Pierce Counties, where the pre-European
contact habitat would have generally been prairie or savannah. I would be
interested in where all of the Seattle area Scrub Jays are currently
resident and if anyone has another neighborhood, other than South Park /
Georgetown, where they would call them "common" north of Tacoma.

I was also pleased to see my first of the season Merlin in, I believe
Georgetown (or was it South Park?).

Also on the bike ride back to West Seattle, along the Duwamish, at the park
west of Kellog Island and a ways south of the West Seattle Bridge at
"Terminal 107 Park" - managed by the Port of Seattle:
http://www.portseattle.org/Parks-Public-Access/Parks/Pages/Terminal-107-Park.aspx
, in the butterfly department, I was pleased to see a late season Lorquin's
Admiral, and a Painted Lady, in what was perfect butterfly flight weather.
Also on a log in the river there were a handful of female or juvenile
American Mergansers and a couple of American Widgeons.

I was disturbed to hear from a worker there managing the plantings there
that he would probably cut up a moss covered fallen log there to give away
for firewood as his supervisors would have him do. I passionately told him
"NO, DON'T DO IT" that such fallen logs, in particular those with bark and
moss, were critically important habitat. If anyone wants to tell the Port
of Seattle this we could have a campaign to teach them better practices and
stop this cutting and burning of such critical habitat elements. While
more people than used to know about the importance of standing and fallen
dead trees and logs, we have a lot of teaching to do!

-Stewart
West Seattle
www.stewardshipadventures.com
206 932-7225
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