Hi everybody,
This new split (California and Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay) is long overdue and
very intriguing for us Oregon birders. I have been very interested in this
particular form for quite a while and started to pay close attention to
scrub-jays in eastern Oregon back in the early 1990s.
As Tom pointed out, despite my diligent efforts to find Woodhouse's
Scrub-Jays in Oregon, I have (only!) two sightings (both in eBird) that I
feel comfortable attributing to Woodhouse's. Unfortunately, I didn't own a
decent camera or any recording equipment at the time, so these sightings
remain unsubstantiated.
The first was of a single bird along Hwy 140 above Drews Reservoir, west of
Lakeview, on September 11, 2002. Oscar Harper and I discovered this bird as
is was creeping around a dense juniper tree where we had pulled out to
check for waterfowl on the reservoir. We had just recently come back from a
summer in Northern Arizona, where Woodhouse's is the default scrub-jay and
where we had an opportunity to study this form well. The Drews Reservoir
jay showed all the typical field marks of Woodhouse's - it was noticeably
paler, grayer and more washed-out looking than our Western OR California
scrubbers, with a grayish rather than brownish back, paler grayish-blue
overall, with dingy-gray underparts and grayish undertail coverts. The
breast band was poorly pronounced, and the supercilium was very narrow and
short. The bird acted very shy and secretive, which I have found to be a
common trait among Woodhouse's in Arizona's juniper country - much less
confiding than California Scrub-Jays. The bird vocalized a few times, and
the voice seemed somewhat higher-pitched than in our Valley scrub-jays. We
spent a long time studying the bird and concluded that it matched all the
Woodhouse's characteristics much better than California SJ. What is
interesting about this sighting is that the default scrub-jays both in the
Sprague River Valley west of Drews Reservoir and in downtown Lakeview
appear to be of the California type - a fact we were well aware of when we
saw this bird.
Our second sighting came seven years later, on Sept 16, 2009, ina slightly
more expected area, when Oscar was trout fishing along Dismal Creek deep in
the South Warner Moutains SE of Lakeview. We had hiked down the steep,
juniper-lined canyon, when we had another close encounter with a scrub-jay
that again showed all the typical field marks of a Woodhouse's. The same
general area also had a family group of Juniper Titmice.
Hopefully, this new split and the chance for another "State Bird tick" will
encourage Oregon birders to pay closer attention to the scrub-jays they
encounter in the southeastern corner of the state. Look for them in open
juniper woodlands in the Warners and east of there - but beware! The
California Scrub-Jay has spread far east along the river valleys and is
becoming ore common now in towns such as Burns, Hines and Lakeview, so all
sightings of Woodhouse's should be carefully scrutinized and documented by
photos and/or voice recordings, if possible.
Happy corvid hunting!
Hendrik & Oscar
On Thu, Jul 7, 2016 at 10:52 AM, Tom Crabtree <tc@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Woodhouse’s Jay is rarely seen in Oregon despite the language in the AOU
article that it is a “resident from southeastern Oregon.” I have only
heard of a handful reports for the state. The major study which led to the
splitting of the Scrub-jays did not study any of the Eastern Oregon birds.
Hendrik Herlyn has two of the 4 reports on Ebird for the state, so perhaps
he will comment on what he has seen. One of the others reported is from
one of the main editors on Ebird. I think an exploratory trip to the
Warner Mountains would be interesting. Three of the four checklists which
include Woodhouse’s Jay also have Juniper Titmouse on them, which is also a
bird that many Oregon birders haven’t seen.
Tom
*From:* cobol-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
cobol-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Steve Kornfeld
*Sent:* Thursday, July 07, 2016 6:49 AM
*To:* cobol@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* [COBOL] FW: [obol] New bird for Oregon
While this anticipated split gives me a new ABA bird, I have not seen this
form in Oregon. Perhaps a Wednesday birders trip to the SE is in order.
Just thinking
Steve
Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
Windows 10
*From: *Bob Archer <rabican1@xxxxxxxxx>
*Sent: *Thursday, July 7, 2016 7:34 AM
*To: *OBOL <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
*Subject: *[obol] New bird for Oregon
Adjust your list accordingly: see item 22 page 554
http://www.aoucospubs.org/doi/pdf/10.1642/AUK-16-77.1
Bob Archer
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