On 4/30/2013 7:18 PM, Sarah and/or Trish wrote:
While in the yard trying to see the very vocal Brown Thrasher, a group of 35-40 Blue Jays flew over. Anyone have any thoughts why that many Blue Jays were together? I did not think the migrated.
Our local jay population is mainly resident, but the jays that nest in northern Minn/Canada migrate in sort of a leapfrog manner back and forth over Iowa to winter in more pleasant conditions to our south. I regularly see flocks of 25-50, and sometimes up to 100 flapping silently overhead during their rather short migration window. My yearly high daily counts usually run to a few hundred birds, once 1400, while numbers at good vantage points like manned hawk watches can go to several thousand jays in a day.
Matthew Kenne Algona, Iowa [email protected] --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/PayDues.aspx. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
