Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!mailrus!shadooby!samsung!usc!ucsd!ucbvax!hplabs!hpfcso!hpcndaw!jbh
From: jbh@hpcndaw.HP.COM (Joel Hurmence)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: 3 Species of Jays
Message-ID: <2950014@hpcndaw.HP.COM>
Date: 14 Nov 89 21:46:23 GMT
References: <1989Nov13.152744.16251@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: HP Colorado Networks Division
Lines: 25

>I didn't see the jays until a few months later).  By the early
>'70s, they were in the foothills of Colorado, where (near Boulder)
>hybrids were reported.  Anyone out there in netland know their 
>current status in the Rocky Mountain states?  I'd be curious to
>know.
>
Blue Jays are becoming increasingly common visitors to our feeders
in Fort Collins (about 40 miles north of Boulder).  We have been
feeding at our house on the edge of the plains near the foothills
for about 6 years.  We didn't see any the first couple of years,
and now we get them in groups of 3.  We also had a Steller's jay
this fall -- a first for us, they are not common below the foothills.
I am told that blue and Steller's jays have interbred, producing 
viable offspring.

A local naturalist told me one theory explaining the recent westward 
migration of blue jays and other birds.  The reason was that the 
construction of dams in the last 100 years to control flooding on 
major east-flowing rivers has allowed a continuous growth of cottonwoods 
and brush cover along these rivers, providing corridors for birds that 
would otherwise not cross the treeless prairies.  The cardinal is
expected to find its way out here in the near future.

Joel Hurmence
jbh%hpcndaw@hplabs.hp.com