Birds on the move

California Scrub-Jays are moving north up the Pacific coast as climate and weather changes, and Audubon says they are here in Seattle to stay.

We have several hanging around constantly and they get along great with their crow cousins. Scrub-Jays are crafty and aggressive corvids, like crows, and apparently they're pushing out other resident species, like the Stellar's Jay and Northern Flicker.

I haven't seen or heard a robin in the neighborhood this year, or many other birds for that matter. In early spring, robins were always up and chirping before the alarm went off. Except for crows cawing, the mornings are silent outside in the holly tree.  It seems strange, and I hope the Scrub-Jays haven't driven them all off.

Perhaps mating season is finished and they are nesting, a time when birds naturally lay low. So much of nature happens under the radar.  All we can do is wonder.

Can you believe it, next week during our long-awaited vacation, the weather will be spectacular in Seattle! The forecast for Palm Springs doesn't look bad, but partially cloudy and cooler than the seasonal high. That won't bother us a bit when we sitting in hot mineral water.