More Steller's Jays
Mon, 2 Nov 1998 12:42:19 PST
From: Steve Glover
East Bay Birders,
I arrived back last night from a vacation in New Mexico and am trudging through a bizillion e-mails. As suggested by Larry, last week I started typing an essay about the changing status of the birds of the East Bay, more specifically about species that have colonized the East Bay as breeders during the 20th century. It is turning out to be a lot longer than I had anticipated and so I am only half done. It should be out to everyone later in the week. One of the species I discuss is Steller's Jay. The past status of this species here is somewhat murky. It was apparently present here in the latter 19th century, but considered rare (Belding, 1890, Landbirds of the Pacific District). It should be noted that Belding based this designation on the observations of a tiny handfull of collectors, particularly W.O. Emerson of Hayward (then Haywards), all of whom lived near the bay. The interior of the East Bay at this time was visited very rarely at best. It does appear clear that they were first noted around Berkeley at Woolsey Canyon in 1910 and that they became established in Strawberry Canyon in 1915 ("Additional Notes on Birds of a Berkeley Hillside", Amelia S. Allen, Condor V. 45, #4, 7-8/1943, p. 149-157). The assertion that the discovery of Steller's Jay in Woolsey Canyon in 1910 was the first for the East Bay is clearly erroneous but it is true that during this time period the jays were able to colonize the western flanks of the Berkeley Hills. According to Grinnell and Wythe in Directory to the Bird-Life of the San Francisco Bay Region (1927) the reason for the sudden spread was clear: "In the vicinity of Berkeley, the older planted groves of cypresses and eucalyptus have met this bird's likes in conspicuous measure." Over the years I have been through all the sources I could find for sightings of local birds, the result being a huge binder with pages for each species. What is immediately striking about this binder is the amount of pages occupied by each species. Eurasian Wigeon and Cattle Egrets, always popular in Audubon Newsletters, each occupy 6 or 7 pages. Steller's Jay takes up all of 2/3 of a page. They are so common that no one even bothers to pay attention to them. Because of this I can't say whether or not this falls sightings are unusual or not. I do have a record from Hayward Regional Shoreline and from Clifton Court Forebay so they do move on occasion but since the reports that I recall hearing are from very close to resident populations I assume that they are post-breeding wanderers. Nevertheless they could be true migrants. It does seem meaningful that so many have appeared in yards where they had previously been unknown.
It is exciting to me to have this e-mail service to track things like this. I have gathered more Steller's Jays sightings in the past couple of weeks than I have from all of the other sources combined. This is a good example of how much more there is to learn, even about the common species.
Happy birding,
Steve Glover
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East Bay Area
Tue, 3 Nov 1998 20:26:50
From: Graham J Etherington
Hi all, I spent the day out birding today (who needs to study!). Here is a summary of what I saw:
Aquatic Park
Redhead - 4 (all drakes)
Bufflehead - 70 (10 drakes)
[Greater] Yellowlegs - 8
Ring-n[ecked] Duck - 1 female
Lesser Scaup - 1 female
American Avocet - 55
[Black-necked] Stilt - 43
[Long-billed & Short-billed] Dowitchers - 150 (total)
Horned Grebe - 1
Hooded Merganser - (brownhead)
Red-br[easted] Merganser - 4 (brownheads)
Marbled Godwit - c30
Least Sand[piper] - c100
Common Goldeneye - 2 (1 drake)
Lake Merrit
Horned Grebe - 2
Thayers Gull - 5 (all 1w's)
Cattle Egret - 1
Canvasback - 19
Lesser Scaup - 53
Common Goldeneye - 3 (1 drake)
Ring-n[ecked] Duck - 1 female
[Northeast] side of Bay Bridge
Semi-p[almated] Plover - c40
Dunlin - c500
Least Sand[piper] - c100
Western Sand[piper] - c500
Elegant Tern - 14
Mew Gull - 20
[Red] Knot - 1
[Black-bellied] Plover - c40
Marbled Godwit - c100
Willet - c100
Albany Mudflats
Am[erican] Wigeon - c100
[Red] Knot - 3
[Black-bellied] Plover - c200
Dunlin - c500
Western Sand[piper] - c200
Merlin - 1
Am[erican] Avocet - c50
White-fronted Goose - 1 juv. with Canadas
Cackling (Canada) Goose - 1 with Canadas
That's your lot. There's lots of birds out there - so get out and find them!
Good Birding,
Graham Etherington
UC Berkeley
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Lake Merritt
Tue, 3 Nov 1998 22:49:41 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
This afternoon at Lake Merritt, I saw most of what Graham saw, except that I saw one Eared Grebe and no Horned Grebes. Also saw 6 Bufflehead drakes and roughly an equal number of hens. There have been several dozen Double-crested Cormorants hanging out in the taller trees on the islands for some weeks now, and it seems as if at least half of them are immatures. I saw at least 8 Brown Pelicans, and I was told that around 30 had been fishing in the Lake earlier in the day. I saw 10 or more Forster's Terns fishing.
Thanks to Steve for pointing out that reports of common species seen at various spots do have value. Some future researcher trying to pin down changes in seasonal or geographic distributions may be delighted to find an archive of such mundane trip reports. So keep 'em coming, and they'll be here for anyone who needs them. Trip leaders are especially encouraged to submit the list of birds seen for each of their walks.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
http://www.best.com/~folkbird/
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