Recovery of a Banded Gray Jay
Dr. D. S. Farner, Ranger-Naturalist
On August 6, 1946, in the course of ornithological investigations along the summit of the Cascade Divide between Annie Springs and Union Peak, two gray jays (Perisoreus canadensis griseus Ridgway) were collected from a family group of at least three. The birds were traveling from tree to tree through a rather dense stand of mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana (Bong.) Sargent).
The collecting locality was one and one eighth miles southwest of Annie Springs, about 50 yards west of the Union Peak motorway. The altitude of this locality is approximately 6250 feet. One of the collected specimens had on its leg Biological Survey Band No. A283458. Mr. F. C. Lincoln kindly supplied the information that this band had been originally issued to Mr. W. T. Frost, formerly a ranger at Crater Lake. According to the data by Mr. Frost this gray jay was banded as an adult at Annie Springs on December 27, 1937. The bird was retrapped nine times on the day that it was banded, and four times on the following day. Mr. Frost placed and additional band of yellow color on the bird’s other leg for purposes of sight identification. This band had been lost by the time of the above described recovery. This recovery is of interest not only because of the age of nearly nine years attained by the bird but also as an indicator of the extremely restricted range of individuals of this species.
