HI Folks,
This evening, looking through some eBird reports, and getting an email from
Stacy, I saw a pattern that I have seen in some years past.
1. An eBird report by Mikeal Jones from yesterday mentioned 10 Steller's
Jays at his place, "all together, flying North and circling a conifer roost
before continuing on North and West."
2. Stacy's email to me mentioned a flock of 19 Steller's Jays traveling
through: "Also today, saw my first flock of Steller jays. (I have 2
residents) They came into a tree close to me then progressively moved to
two more trees before they were beyond my view. Upon leaving the 3rd tree I
was able to count as they left-- 19!"
Perhaps others of you are seeing this now, or have in the past: clearly
cohesive, roaming/traveling groups of Steller's Jays. What are they doing?
Our locals should be nesting right now. I don't know what these roaming
bands are doing in late April. I looked up in Birds of Oregon: A General
Reference, and in the online Birds of North America account, but only brief
mention is made of the spring phenomenon and no explanation. One data set
in BNA indicated these may mostly be year-old birds. ??? Who knows.
Anyway, this is an example of how pooling (sharing) our observations can
reveal trends, behaviors, phenomena that draw us to ask questions and look
a bit closer to understand more about the life and natural history of these
species, even something as "common" as a Steller's Jay.
Anyone else seeing traveling bands of Steller's Jays?
Matt
