FOAM LAKE BIRDING
No. 187
After a
much longer hiatus than I had intended I am finally back at it. However my articles will not be a regular as
in the past. Health issues will do that
to a fellow.
Compared to
last winter birding this year has been rather poor. Yes, we do have the standard chickadees,
sparrows, woodpeckers and a few Bohemian Waxwings but noticeably absent are the
nuthatches, redpolls and Pine Grosbeaks.
Hopefully, things pick up soon.
Although, I
have not seen one this year I have had several reports of the little Boreal Owl
present locally. It is nice to have this
bird back again this year.
We went to Mexico for a
short vacation since my last article and I do not want to miss the opportunity
to write about a Mexican bird that we saw there. Therefore, this week's bird is the Yucatan
Jay which is exclusive to Mexico
especially the Yucatan
Peninsula. Several years ago this jay wandered far north
of its normal range and wound up in the Rio Grande
Valley in Texas.
It caused quite a stir in the birding community with birders swarming to
see it. We passed on this sighting as
the trip was an hour and a half one way and we had seen the bird previously on
an earlier trip to Mexico.
The Yucatan
Jay looks very similar to the very common Stellars Jay of the Rocky
Mountains with two differences.
Like the Stellars Jay the bird is a deep and even dark blue all over
including its head and neck but with a black breast as well. The crest is absent. Being a typical jay it likes to hang around
people where it is constantly looking for scraps of food left over from a lunch
or snack.
I got these
pictures in early December of 2013 eating popcorn that we provided for them.
John Senkiw
Posts
