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Migrational Movements of Blue Jays West of the 100Th Meridian

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Migrational Movements of Blue Jays West of the 100Th Meridian Migrational movementsof Blue Jays west of the 100th meridian Kimberly G. Smith Introduction Since the start of the bird-bandingprogram in movements-- in fall of 1939when 7350Blue Jays North America, the movements of Blue Jays passedHawk Mountain,Pennsylvania, in 16 days (Cyanocittacristata) have been of great interest. in late September(Broun 1941), and in fall of 1962 The first report of bird-bandingrecoveries by the when Blue Jaysinvaded Massachusetts (Nunneley BiologicalSurvey (Lincoln1924) listed 38 Blue Jay 1964). returns, all from the same stationat which they While investigatingthe range extensionof Blue were banded.The secondBiological Survey report Jaysinto westernNorth America(Smith 1978), ! (Lincoln 1927) listed 11 Blue Jays recovered at found that the breedingrange was slowlymoving placesremoved from the originalbanding station, westward,whereas the numberof winter sightings although219 of the 230reports still were returnsat in the PacificNorthwest was increasingdramati- the original station.Seven of these 11 recoveries cally.! was puzzledby the lack of winter sightings were within the samestate as the originalbanding in the Intermountainregion, and decided to ana- station,with the 4 othersall showingsouthward lyze the bandingrecoveries west of the 100thmer- movementsduring fall. Two of these recoveries constituted movements of over 667 kin. Over the idian to determine what pattern might emerge. Here, I presentthat analysis,which stronglysug- next 15 years,many long-distancemovements by geststhat most Blue Jay sightingsin the Pacific bandedBlue Jayswere reported(e.g., Whittle 1928, Northwestare individualsoriginating in western Anon. 1929, Roberts 1936, Stoner 1936), as were Canada rather than birds crossingthe Rockies sightingsof large massmovements or migrationsof from central United States. Blue Jays(e.g., Sherman 1931, Tyrrell 1934,Cottam 1937,Broun 1941,Lewis 1942). Results In the firstsummary of Blue Jaybanding data, Gill A totalof 1496records of BlueJays banded west of (1941) demonstrated that Blue Jays migrate the 100th meridian were suppliedfrom the Bird southwestwardin fall andnortheastward in spring BandingLaboratory (Table 1). Of these,168 (11%) in easternUnited States(see also Middleton 1974). had been recoveredat least once.Most represent More interestingly, from an analysis of local local returns inasmuchas 133 (79%) had been recoveriesand 272reported returns, Gill suggested recoveredwithin the samelatitude-longitude block that Blue Jaysbecome sedentary with advancing as the original banding station.Nineteen (11%) age.Earlier, Forbush(1927) had suggestedthat 2 were recoveriesin the same state (i.e., banding populationsof Blue Jaysexisted in New England region)and only 16 (10%)were recoveredin other -- one migratoryand the othersedentary. Laskey bandingregions. Most recoveriesoccurred within (1958)added more fuel to the fire by showingthat 5 years of banding(Fig. 1), a pattern quite similar individualBlue Jaysmay be migratoryone year, to that reported by Laskey (1958). Eleven sedentarythe next, and then migratory again. recoveries were made east of the 100th meridian, Wenger (1975),having analyzedall the Blue Jay all being recoveredsouth of the originalbanding bandingreturns through 1971, proposed a solution site.Only 2 recoveriesof Blue Jaysbanded east of that explainedmost of the above observations.He the 100th meridian have been made west of the foundno age differencein migratorybehavior (cf. 100th meridian. One was banded in Iowa in Hardy 1961, Johnston1964), with only a small January and recovered in Saskatchewan in percentageof Blue Jaysbeing either migratoryor Octoberof the sameyear; the other was bandedin truly sedentary.Rather, he suggeststhat the ma- Minnesota in December and recovered in jority of BlueJays are sedentary,but will migrateif Manitoba 5 months later. environmental conditions deteriorate. For exam- ple, a food shortage(e.g., acorn mast failure) was A computerprogram (Zar and Southern1977) was suggested as the reason for two great mass used to determine distance and direction of the 35 Apr.-Jun.1979 NorthAmerican Bird Bander Page49 Table 1. Analysisby bandingregion of Blue Jays bandedwest of the 100thmeridian. Yearof last Totalno. No. recovered No. recovered No. recovered No. recovered Region bandingrecord banded frombanded sameLat*Lon•l same region differentregion Kansas 1972 25 0 0 0 0 Nebraska 1969 737 108 91 7 10 SouthDakota 1975 197 12 9 1 2 NorthDakota 1968 37 5 3 0 2 Saskatchewan 1971 34 9 9 0 0 Colorado 1975 392 27 16 9 2 Wyoming 1973 4 0 0 0 0 Alberta 1975 69 7 5 2 0 Utah 1977 1 0 0 0 0 Total 1496 168 133 19 16 recoveries that were outside of the latitude- 60- longitudeblock of the originalbanding station. The 25 Blue Jaysthat were recoveredat least 50 km from the original station showed a marked tendencyto move southeastwardin winter (Table 50- 2 A) and northwestwardin summer(Table 2 B), although4 individualswintered much farther w north than theyhad doneduring a previouswinter o (Table 2 C). The 12 Blue Jaysrecovered within 50 w km of the bandingsite were usuallycaptured in the same seasonas banded and no pattern seems evident.Three of the recoverieswere greaterthan 30- 1200km from the bandingsite, and birds recovered at least50 km from the originalbanding site had an w averagerecovery distance of 462km (seeTable 2). 20- The following conclusionscan be drawn from these data: 1) although most Blue Jays are recapturednear the site of banding,long-distance I0 movementsare possible;2) individuals that do migrate move southeastwardin winter and northwestward in summer; 3) some birds that migrateone winter do not migratein subsequent I I i I i I I i i winters(i.e., remain nearer the breeding grounds). I 2 .% 4 5 6 7 8 9 I0 It appearsthat movements in the westernpart of theBlue Jay's range differ little from movementsin MINIMUM AGE AT RECOVERY the eastern part. Figure1. All the recoveriesand returnsof Blue Jaysbanded west of the 100thmeridian showing Discussion the recoveriesas a functionof the numberof years Bellrose(1972) suggested that the diurnally migrat- after banding. ing Blue Jay has a "primative"sun-compass (cf. Wiltschkoand Wiltschko1978) and can tell only north and south directions.This study and the Anotherfact that supportsthe Canadianorigin is others mentionedearlier support the contention thatseveral authors (e.g., Groh 1958, Schorger 1962, that almostall Blue Jaymovements are in a north- Bellrose1972) have suggestedthat Blue Jaysuse southdirection. Therefore, wintering Blue Jaysin the sameflyways year after year and rely heavily the PacificNorthwest almost surely are originating on landmarks such as rivers. As early as 1897, in western Canada inasmuch as Blue Jays com- Mead reportedBlue Jaysfollowing the Arkansas monly occur as far west as central Alberta (see River southeastwardduring fall migrationthrough Smith 1978,Fig. 1). No data exist to suggestthat Wichita, Kansas.Undoubtedly, the directionsof Blue Jaysmove in an east-westdirection, negating movementsfound in my analysisare causedby the possibilitythat Blue Jaysare arrivingin the BlueJays following the MississippiRiver drainage. Northwest from the Midwest. Hence,Blue Jaysfrom westernCanada could easi- Page50 NorthAmerican Bird Bander Vol.4, No. 2 Table 2. Blue Jays recovered at least 50 km from banding site analyzed by season. A. Birdsrecovered in anotherseason south of bandinglocation. B. Birdsrecovered in anotherseason north of bandinglocation. C. Birdswintering north of originalfall or winterbanding site. Season' Season Sample Mean Mean banded recovered size direction(o) distance(kin) Winter 5 148 607 A. FallSpringFall 7 1•f Spring 6 177 346 SummerWinterFall 1•I Spring Winter 4 149 516 WinterSpringFall if 2 3251094 Spring Summer 1 36 138 Fall Summer 1 271 153 C. Winter Winter 2 330 699 Fall Winter 2 333 1041 'Winter--Nov.-Mar;Spring--Apr.-May; Summer--Jun.-Aug.; Fall--Sept.-Oct. •Sameindividual, recovered two weeksafter banding. ly be following the Columbia River (see Fitzner Bellrose, F.C. 1972. Possible steps in the and Woodley1976) or the SnakeRiver; winter con- evolutionarydevelopment of bird navigation. centrations of Blue lays have occurred in pp. 223-247in Animal orientation and naviga- southeasternand central Washingtonand more tion. S.R. Galler, K. Schmidt-Koeniz, G.I. recentlyin southwesternIdaho (Smith 1978). Jacobs, and R.E. Belleville, eds. Nat. Aeronautics& SpaceAdmin. NASA SP--262. During the winter of 1976-77,a great influx of Blue lays occurredin the western United States (Smith Broun,M. 1941.Migration of Blue lays.Auk 58:262- 263. 1978) and a perusal of the reports in American Cottam, C. 1937. An unusual concentration of Blue Birds since that time shows that Blue lay reports lays. Bird-Banding8:79-80. are still common in winter. Weber (1977) con- cluded that the Blue lay invasion.of Washington Fitzner, R.E., and R.E. Woodley. 1976.Blue lays during 1976-77probably was of Canadian origin, wintering in the Columbia Basin of basedupon similar reasoningto that which I have southeasternWashington. Murrelet 57:64-66. Forbush, E.H. 1927. Birds of Massachusetts and presentedin this report.However, confirmationof the Canadianorigin of westernBlue Jayswill have other New England states.Part II. Land birds to await a bandingrecovery or return showingthe from Bob-whites to Grackles. Mass. Dept. actual migrationroute involved. Agriculture. Gill, G. 1941.Notes on the migrationof Blue lays. Acknowledgments Bird-Banding12:109-112. Groh,H. 1958.Blue Jayflyway near Ottawa.Can. Martha Balph prodded
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