Gene wrote: > i haven't heard the stories about the jays on santa cruz island being successful to the point where they grow to the > size of pheasants---------kinda dubious to the story, since size is often > attributed to genetics.
I honestly don't know the dimensions of a pheasant but the large (sometimes 1 foot in length from bill to tail) scrub blue jays I've seen on Santa Cruz reminded me of such larger birds. If you are interested in birds of California, the information on the Santa Cruz Island Scrub Jay is fascinating. The California Channel Islands are often called "America's Galapagos" because of the unique sub-species of flora and fauna found there. "The Santa Cruz Island jay is found on no other island, and none have ever been found on the mainland. Its bright blue color, larger size and heavier bill distinguishes it from its mainland counterpart. This bird represents a case of island gigantism. Lack of competition and predators has allowed this island species to utilize resources generally unavailable to mainland jays." from the book "California Channel Islands- 1001 Questions Answered," Marla Daly 1990 "The most distinctive endemic subspecies on the Channel Islanmds is the Scrub jay population confined to Santa Cruz Island...The Santa Cruz Island Scrub Jay is a genetically isolated population limited in its geographic distribution to Santa Cruz Island, Santa Barbara County, California. This insular form is characterized by rather pronouned morpholoogical differentiation from mainland populations of the same species.... was initially described as a distinct species, on the basis of strong morphological contraasts between the insular population and mainland Scrub Jay races (Henshaw 1886).." from the book "The California Islands: Proceedings of a Multidisciplinary Symposium," Dennis M. Power, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History - 1980 If my scanner was working I could show you a few photos of them. Also, here is a link with more information arbou the unique subspecies of Santa Cruz Island http://www.tnccalifornia.org/our_proj/santa_cruz_island/who.asp Kakki, former docent for the Nature Conservancy Santa Cruz Island Project
