Sunday, November 07, 2010

New Neighbor Moves In


I just got a heads up from Chuck Murray about a rare find in his back yard. A Western Scrub Jay showed up October 24 and appears to be settling in for a long sty. Non-migratory, their habitat stretches from Southern Washington State to Texas, preferring the dry areas south of us. The last sighting of this specie in North Idaho was in 1977 around the Priest Lake area.

When Chuck notified the Audubon Society of this bird, requesting information on it, the society lit up like a Christmas tree with excitement over the find. Large numbers of bird watchers have descended on the Murray homestead, hoping for a peek at this rare bird. While they normally travel and feed in pairs, Chuck has only observed the one.

When the bird first arrived, Chuck didn't know what it was, so he took a picture of it and sent it to the Audubon people. About a week later, there were more bird watchers in his yard than birds.

Murray has been feeding birds at his home on Cape Horn Road for 20 years and has befriended a covey of California Quail that have lived in the area for a long time. Gradually they stopped spooking when the Murrays were around, until finally in the present time, they wait under a bush in his yard for the afternoon feeding around 3:30 pm. As far as the Jay is concerned, he hit pay dirt, since a hungry bird will find a smorgasbord at this location.

4 comments:

CHUCK said...

HERB, THANK YOU FOR THE BLOG ABOUT THE WESTERN SCRUB JAY. I HOPE OTHER PEOPLE IN BAY VIEW GET TO SEE IT AND ENJOY IT.

SOME WHERE IN OUR CONVERSATION THERE WAS A MISUNDERSTANDING, I HAVE NOT FED THE BIRD BY HAND. THE BIRD IS WILD AND VERY WARY OF PEOPLE

CHUCK MURRAY

Bay Views said...

Correction made, Chuck. I thought you said you fed the bird a peanut.

Anonymous said...

I will have to share this post with my friend on Parks Rd. She is an avid bird watcher as long as her local bear is not around.

NJ

BayviewBob said...

I saw two of these, 10 years ago at my house on First. They showed up one day and were gone for good the next.