[Birdtalk] East Canyon & Lee Kay Ponds Area

[Jeff Bilsky]

In the interest of knowledge I used the power of google and found the
following in regards to the Stellar's Jay:

"Like all jays, its calls are varied and include rattling and guttural
sounds too numerous to list. Notably, its alarm call is a harsh nasal "wah".
It also imitates the cry of the Red-tailed Hawk, which has the effect of
causing other birds and prey creatures to vacate feeding areas as the
Steller's Jays approach."

>From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steller's_Jay

I have personally never witnessed this until today and I can tell you that
it is was, for lack of a more scientific term, "Bad Ass".

Good Bird.

On Sun, Nov 23, 2008 at 8:04 PM, Carl Ingwell <carlingwell at gmail.com> wrote:

> Today Jeff Bilsky and I went birding.
> Our first stop was Mountain Dell Reservoir.  We saw hundreds of Ring Necked
> Ducks, a handful of Common Goldeneyes,Bufflehead, American Wigeon, Mallards,
> a beautiful Red-Tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Black-Billed Magpie,
> Townsend's Solitaire (2), American Robin, Starling, Cedar Waxwing (10),
> Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow, Dark-Eyed Junco, House Finch and American
> Goldfinch.
>
> At East Canyon Res. Barrow's Goldeneye outnumbered the Commons.  We had
> about 50 Barrows and 5 Common.  We also saw Canada Geese, Mallard, Hooded
> Merganser (2), Common Merganser (15), Bald Eagle (1), Golden Eagle (2),
> Killdeer, California Gull, Northern Flicker, Stellar's Jay*  Black-Billed
> Magpie, Common Raven, Black-Capped Chickadee, Mountain Chickadee,
> Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Townsend's Solitaire, American
> Robin, Dark-Eyed Junco, Cassin's Finch & Pine Siskin.
>
> *We observed one Stellar's Jay making a call that was strikingly similar to
> that of a Red-Tailed Hawk.  Has anyone else observed that sort of a call?
>  Is it a defense mechanism?
>
> Afterwards, we went to Lee Kay Ponds.  We saw Canada Geese, Gadwall,
> American Wigeon, Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead,
> Common Goldeneye, Northern Harrier, ROUGH LEGGED HAWK, California Gull, Ring
> Billed Gull, Herring Gull, Common Raven, Starling, Song Sparrow,
> White-Crowned Sparrow, Western Meadowlark, Brewer's Blackbird, House Finch,
> & American Goldfinch.
>
> One Love.
>
> --
> Carl Ingwell
> 801-688-5017
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thursdaybirdersutah
>
>
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>



-- 
Jeff Bilsky
Salt Lake City
jbilsky at gmail.com
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