[Birdtalk] East Canyon & Lee Kay Ponds Area

[Master Minx]

I was able to catch some not-so-good shots of a Stellar's Jay this summer as
he was plundering the dog food bowl at the cabin above Heber.  An absolutely
gorgeous bird!  And I can attest, first-hand, that the mimicry of the Red
Tail Hawk is very impressive.  He tricked me for the first couple of days,
as there was an Red Tailed present in the area.  I'd look to the sky, and
he'd dash for the kibbles.  :)

On Sun, Nov 23, 2008 at 9:39 PM, Jeff Bilsky <jbilsky at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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