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Birding/Stellar Jay's imitation of a gull?

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Expert: Julia Booth - 3/4/2008


Question
The attached YouTube video of a stellar jay sounding to me like a gull, was filmed by me at Stowe Lake in Golden Gate Park yesterday. I've observed stellars many times imitating hawks but I had never heard this sound from one of them before. What do you think?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhNS9qzdGyY

Answer
I'm not equipped to download u-tube at the moment.

It's been my experience that Stellars Jays can make all sorts of noises. I've heard of them imitating Loons and Hawks, but not Gulls. This is mostly because they tend to live up at higher elevations where there are no Gulls.

I will believe just about anything these days, though. Thanks for the note.

If you have anything that isn't really a question, just something you want to let me know about, e-mail me directly instead. Juliabohemian@aol.com

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Julia Booth

Expertise

I can answer questions about bird identification (by sight or sound), behavior, distribution, population, conservation, mating, nesting, fledging and feeding. I do have some practical knowledge about foreign species, but identification skills are limited in that arena. Bear in mind that as much as I know, it's possible that at least some of you will ask a question that I am unable to answer. At which point I would direct you to wherever or whomever I thought could provide you with that information.

Experience

I have 15 years birding experience in Southern California.

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Audubon Society

Education/Credentials
My education is in art and photography -but I have a substantial portfolio of nature related work.

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