Day 348: An infrequent visitor to my yard, a Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica, also commonly called California Scrub-Jay) came calling yesterday and sat still long enough for me to get a photo through the window. This species has proved elusive for me photographically. I often saw them when I was bicycling the Chehalis-Western Trail, perching on phone lines just beyond reasonable zoom distance from my lens and invariably flying off if I tried to move closer. I suspect their shyness would diminish as they became familiarized with a feeding station, thinking of my mother's claim that her Steller's Jays were skittish, moving if she so much as blinked, quite a contrast to the brazen bunch around my home. I can hope that Scrubby will stick around, although in past years his residency has been limited to a few days at most. According to the field guides, the species is roughly the same size as Steller's, but Western Scrub-Jay gives the appearance of being a little bigger than Steller's in my experience. His colouration is reminiscent of the true Blue Jay, and that lovely white tuxedo bib is a give-away as to his identity.
365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Friday, September 25, 2020
Western Scrub-Jay, Aphelocoma Californica
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