Let’s say you’re a novice or casual birder from the East Coast making your first trip to the Southwest. You’re sitting on the porch of your Casita enjoying a cup of coffee or tea as the morning Sun starts to poke its head over North Peak, just across the Creek from you. You notice a rather large, sleek, blue, gray, and possibly some white, bird fly in and start pecking at the bird seed you scattered on the picnic table. The bird is very close, but with the Sun shining directly in your eyes, details are hard to see. It looks somewhat like the Bluejay you have at home, but it doesn’t have a crest.
So you thumb through the guidebook on western birds that you found in your Casita’s bookcase and conclude that it must be some sort of Jay, either a Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay, Mexican Jay, or possibly a Pinon Jay, before the bird decides it doesn’t want to have breakfast with you watching and retreats into a juniper a few feet away, half-hidden in the foliage, and begins scolding at you in a raspy voice! With just that minimal identification, you visit the Cornell Labs All About Birds website, and type “Scrub Jay” in the search box.
You click on the link for “Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay” and learn that in 2016, the Western Scrub Jay was split into two species – the California Jay and Woodhouse’s Jay. After checking the maps for both species, you see that only the Woodhouse’s Jay is found in New Mexico. Going back to the Search link, and looking at the data for the other Jays, you determine that it has to be either a Mexican Jay or Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay, as the Pinyon Jay does not show enough gray or white. And, listening to the sounds provided for each, the call of the Pinyon Jay is not at all like what that bird in the juniper is screeching at you.
Continuing to research, you learn that while the two remaining Jays have similar calls, visually they are easily told apart by the white necklace on the throat of the Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay. Fortunately, the bird in the juniper now decides that its desire to eat is greater than its wish that you weren’t there, so it returns to the picnic table, flaunting the white necklace on its throat, and your bird identification is decided. You snap a photo of the Jay,and have just added your first southwestern bird to your birding Life List! Now, only 142 Casita birds to go!
Since 1999 we have been privileged to continally observe, study, and immerse ourselves in the incredible world of Nature that surrounds here us here at Casitas de Gila Guesthouses. During that time we have acquired an extensive knowledge and understanding of the Natural and Cultural History of our area of New Mexico, and we take great pleasure and enjoyment in sharing that knowledge and understanding with our guests.
