gmr044@leah.Albany.Edu (Gregg Recer) (09/18/90)
Several posts on the question of camp-robbing corvids have already
suggested that gray jay, Clark's nutcracker and Stellar's jay all fit
the name to some degree. Our experience while in the pacific NW this
summer was that both gray and Stellar's jays are quite habituated to
people and know where to go to get a handout. We watched people hand
feed gray jays in Olympic National park. The birds actually perched on
people's fingers while chomping down pieces of cookies. In many of
our campsites Stellar's came right up next to our table or cooking
area clearly expecting something to eat. We usually tried to resist
the temptation. We didn't see any Clark's nutcrackers since
everything above 3000 feet was still under several feet of snow when
we were there. It's somewhat odd that we don't encounter blue jays or
crows as constant camp companions here in the east. The camp robbers
out here are chipmunks and red squirrels. We have been surrounded by
common grackels during picnics a couple of times though.
Gregg
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"In future you should delete the words crunchy frog and
replace them with the legend crunchy raw unboned real
dead frog!!"
-- Inspector Bradshaw, The Hygiene Division
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