Date: 10/13/26 9:33 am From: Matthew O'Brien via groups.io <matthewobrien...> Subject: [southbaybirds] Pinyon Jay at SCU
Carter -
Exciting. I'm an SCU grad (BSEE 1973), but can assure you I never saw a Pinyon Jay at SCU while I was there!
Pinyon Jays are an irruptive species, and have come in numbers to the Bay Area at times. I was lucky one such time.
In 2003, I saw a single individual on San Antonio Valley Road, just as the road down from Lick flattens out into the valley. At that time, Bill Bousman was the "keeper of the list and reporter" for Santa Clara County for South Bay Birds. He gathered multiple record sources.
As Pinyon Jay was significant, I reported the sighting in my trip list and sent it in.
He then replied, and told me that according to all his records, that was the first sighting in Santa Clara County. I had been at the south end of San Antonio Valley Road, which is in Santa Clara County. Proceeding north, it becomes Alameda County.
As an aside, my wife and I just spent a week in and near Santa Fe, New Mexico. We've done that maybe 8 times. This year is an irruption year there, with montane species coming down to much lower elevations. At Santa Fe level, there were ample Pinyon Jays, Clark's Nutcrackers, all three nuthatch species (usually only White-breasted), Goshawks.
Do not disclose information that identifies the location of nesting birds of any species, to minimize stress on the nesting birds and the risk of vandalism or abuse.
