California Scrub-Jay

Along the southern Chehalis Bike Trail on 8 July 2020, Erika and I rode up to a California Scrub-Jay. This recently recognized species (all of the western scrub-jays were once considered to be one species) is spreading north. This jay is found along the West Coast from Washington to Baja California. It spread into Washington in the 1970s, and now breeds in southwest British Columbia.  Forest clearing and urbanization between Oregon and northern Washington probably facilitated this range expansion. California Scrub-Jay populations also moved east during the past 40 years in Oregon Idaho, western Montana and California (Curry et al. 2020).