Steller’s jay

New Protections for the Mysterious Marbled Murrelet

by Madeleine Turner on

In February, Oregon’s Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to reclassify the marbled murrelet from threatened to endangered. The vote is good news, considering that murrelets have lost an estimated 78,600 acres of nesting habitat in Oregon since 1993. By some models cited by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the species risks an 80 percent chance of extinction by 2060 in certain parts of the state.

Longtime League Councillor and research advisor, Bill Libby, says hello to a squawking Steller's jay being studied at Big Basin State Park.

Bird in hand and two in the bush

by Emily Burns on

Several weeks ago, a wily Steller’s jay outsmarted me while I cooked breakfast under the redwoods in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.  I was about to sit down and eat my scrambled eggs, but decide to first fetch the boiling water off my …

What Makes a Blue Bird Blue?

by Richard Campbell on

In the gray-green dim of the redwood forest, a flash of blue ignites the dusky understory.  A Steller’s jay alights upon a tanoak limb, chattering madly.  The brightness of its feathers seems incongruous with the dark of the forest, a …