Our first birding hike and the Steller’s Jay
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to go on my first official birding hike. This is the habitat we explored:
A mixed forest, filled with ponderosa pine and aspen.
A mountain stream.
And a beautiful lake, nestled in a valley.
The habitat is very different from what I am familiar with here in Eastern Nebraska. While it isn’t exactly in my backyard, the best sighting of the day was a bird that can be attracted to feeders if you live within its habitat, the Steller’s Jay.
This raucous bird has the widest range of any North American jay, extending from southern Alaska, south to Central America and east to the Rocky Mountains, which is where we saw them. Once in awhile, they may be seen far from their home range, although no one really knows why. These adventurous birds tend to be younger.
They prefer forested areas. All three of the birds we saw were near the woods at about 7,000 feet.
If you live within the range of the Steller’s Jay, you will likely be successful at attracting them with sunflower seed, corn or suet.
In October, we will be going to the Smoky Mountains. I wonder what new discoveries are awaiting us there!
backyard birding, birding, birdwatching
September 20th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures!
September 21st, 2007 at 1:37 am
Glad you enjoyed them!
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:25 pm
That looks like a great hike, what a beautiful pictures. I love in the Netherlands and saw a Stellar’s Jay once on a trip to Colorado. They’re very strikingly-colored.
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:40 pm
They are neat birds! I was in the Netherlands once in high school on a school trip. (I went to a German high school for my senior year).
Thank you for stopping by!
September 24th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Wonderful pictures! Glad to see that you’re getting more active with your birding.-keep atit-it’s a great hobby!
March 26th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Do you guys have a recommendation section, i’d like to suggest some stuff
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Stellar jays get bold enough to come right up on our back pourch and steal catfood even when our cats were there
February 20th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
I’ve been scanning through your blog. You have some great posts on here, especially this one - I really enjoyed it…nice post. Consider yourself bookmarked