Western Scrub Jay (2 Viewers)

[John R Taylor]

I believe that Western Scrub Jay has been split into Californian and Woodhouses. I have seen birds in Carmel and in the Grand Canyon. Are these likely to be Californian (Carmel) and Woodhouses (Grand Canyon). Any help would be appreciated.

 

[rkj]

The Carmel bird would certainly be California Scrub-Jay and the Grand Canyon bird Woodhouse's Scrub Jay.

 

[fugl]

Agree, would be very surprising if that weren't the case with these 2 non-migrants.

 

[John R Taylor]

Many thanks to both repliers. That's an armchair tick.

Regards

John

 

[Nutcracker]

Yep, you got your armchair tick. The divide runs up through southeast CA, and then western NV (all Woodhouse's in NV except for the far west in the Sierra Nevada bit), clip the northeast corner of CA, and just into southeastern OR.

Same divide as a lot of species have, and related to the very different climates and vegetation of the two regions.