Jays and acorns?
Mon, 9 Nov 1998 15:12:12 -0800 (PST)
From: Emilie
I, too, got my first and only Steller's Jay on my yard list on 9/28/98 at the junction of California and Hearst Streets (Berk[eley]). I also saw one near the corner of Grant and Delaware Streets on 10/30/98.
Could this "irruption" be attributable to acorns? There was a huge acorn crop in the fall of 1997. Hundreds of acorns were on the ground and in the trees in Tilden Regional Park, at the [University of California] Campus, etc (I checked with a couple of botanist friends and they confirmed this). Possibly, the jays stored enough acorns to produce a bumper crop of young this year. Another possibility is that the female Steller's Jays put on so much fat during the fall that they were able to produce extra clutches of young. Do jays produce more than one clutch? This fall acorn production is extremely low, which could possibly have caused our friends the Steller Jays to rampage across the East Bay lowlands.
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Re: Jays and acorns?
Mon, 9 Nov 1998 20:45:32 EST
From: Denise Wight
Emilie Strauss wrote:
Could this "irruption" be attributable to acorns?
This is a wonderful theory. Makes sense for the birds here in Martinez. Thanks Emilie!
Steller's Jays were at my feeder here in Martinez for the first time ever, also. Yesterday was the first time a pair actually came up to my second story deck to take corn from my feeder. All month they had been unearthing what the Western Scrub-Jays had hidden. I very rarely get W. Scurb-Jays, either, and up to 6 have been frantically taking corn and peanuts to bury.
At Hidden Lakes Park, Martinez, today a male Merlin was perched in the bare snag in the eucalyptus grove for over an hour. There is also a Winter Wren in the dense vegetation (lots of ivy) just down from the school. Has anyone noticed that Merlins seem to be easy to locate in suburban areas after storms? This seems to be the case in my neighborhood.
Denise Wight
Martinez, CA
"Don't Forget To Look Up"
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