WEST SEATTLE ART: Highland Park’s big blue bird comes home to roost

| Highland Park | West Seattle news | WS culture/arts

(WSB photos)

11:56 AM: It’s installation day for “Where’s the Party? Elevating Nature and Resilience,” the 17-foot-tall Steller’s Jay that’s going up on the southwest corner of Highland Park Way/Holden as the public-art component of SDOT’s safety project at the intersection. Artist Matthew Mazzotta created the big bird, as we first reported a year ago.

Crews will be working on it for another two hours or so; for safety’s sake, spectators are asked to stay away until they’re done (we’ll update). Reminder that next Tuesday, you’ll get a chance to meet the artist – gather at 4 pm November 14th at the corner, and then everyone will walk south to Highland Park Corner Store to chat. The $120,000 project is funded by the longrunning “1 Percent for Art” program, and took wing after three other concepts presented by the city drew tepid community reaction.

2 PM: Installation complete, crew packing up.

3:52 PM: Adding Scott Bessho‘s photo of a view from behind:

The Vulture November 9, 2023 (12:11 pm)

We must name this bird.

The Vulture November 9, 2023 (12:18 pm)

Luke JayWalker
- W107saa November 9, 2023 (12:29 pm)
  
  😂 much more funny and original than mine!
- ARPigeonPoint November 9, 2023 (1:41 pm)
  
  Hahahaha! Perfect.
W107saa November 9, 2023 (12:23 pm)

I vote for Stella or Steve….not very original on my part, but it’s close to the type of bird and an easy name association.🐦
- The Vulture November 9, 2023 (2:02 pm)
  
  I like Stella!
Mark N. November 9, 2023 (12:33 pm)

Stellar Jay Hawkins
- m November 9, 2023 (8:41 pm)
  
  LOVE this, Mark N!
- B Miller November 10, 2023 (9:27 am)
  
  Yes!
Vanessa November 13, 2023 (5:28 pm)

STELLA!

Anders November 9, 2023 (1:24 pm)

Luke Jaywalker – love it!!

Kent Brockman November 9, 2023 (1:39 pm)

I, for one, welcome our new giant bird overlords.

josh November 9, 2023 (3:13 pm)

Deep Simpsons cut. Nice. In honor of the writer of that episode I propose we name the statue David Birdkin.

wetone November 9, 2023 (2:14 pm)

Interesting equipment used for lifting big bird, hope the picture angels also make the overhead lines look closer than they truly are ;)

Shawna November 9, 2023 (2:18 pm)

Not complaining to have a bird statue in my neighborhood, it’s beautiful. But that statue is a Blue Jay not a Stellers Jay and we don’t have Blue Jays in Washington, look up the difference yourself.

WSB November 9, 2023 (3:55 pm)

Yes, it’s a Steller’s Jay. Perhaps the rear view (which I just added thanks to a reader photo) will convince you a bit further. Also, we do have other blue jays in WA – even THE Blue Jay, per Bird Web:
https://birdweb.org/birdweb/bird/blue_jay
More often out here, we’ve featured the Western Scrub-jay
https://birdweb.org/birdweb/bird/california_scrub-jay
datamuse November 9, 2023 (7:03 pm)

Sure looks like a Steller’s Jay to me, and we do have blue jays in Washington. I’ve seen them, though not in Seattle.
Pete November 9, 2023 (9:38 pm)

We see multiple Steller’s jays in our yard every day (and this summer, we frequently saw a California jay along with them). WSB – there is a placeholder in the text: “x-foot”.
- WSB November 9, 2023 (9:52 pm)
  
  Thanks, I moved the height up higher in the story before publishing and didn’t realize I still had that lingering …. fixed.
Westwood November 10, 2023 (12:19 pm)

So confident…yet so wrong.

CorvidFan November 9, 2023 (2:28 pm)

I love him. Excited to see him in person!

wscommuter November 9, 2023 (2:28 pm)

I vote for Luke Jaywalker, with Stella a close second. Can we have pickeleball below? Doesn’t seem like Luke would much mind.

Lucy November 9, 2023 (3:06 pm)

Birds are not real

Betty Ballard November 9, 2023 (5:06 pm)

This. 100% this.
Brian November 10, 2023 (11:17 am)

To add to this, in addition to birds not being real, neither is jaywalking.

anonyme November 9, 2023 (3:24 pm)

Some poor jay is gonna see that and have a heart attack.

BlairJ November 9, 2023 (9:49 pm)

First person to snap a photo of a real jay perched on top of it should win a prize.

Rick November 9, 2023 (4:18 pm)

I like Boogie Big Blue. Or Big Boogie Blue. Or Big Blue Boogie. Or any variation with Bird added. Oh, so many choices!

KayK November 9, 2023 (4:42 pm)

We think everyone should get to have their own name for the Jay!!

Melvin Kelly November 9, 2023 (4:55 pm)

It’s very nice . However I worry its too close to the street corner and perhaps across the way on the south would be safer and everyone still can see it.

2 Much Whine November 10, 2023 (10:40 am)

I was absolutely waiting for this comment! Now we just need comments about: 1) Won’t take long until it’s defaced in this rotten city, 2) It’ll scare the children!, 3) Who’s going to take care of it once it starts to look weathered?, 4) Who got a kickback on the City Council in order to put this monstrosity here?, 5) We can’t have nice things – someone entitled will steal it, 6) It’ll scare the real birds and they won’t be able to nest, 7) It’s been proven on the internet that a bird of this size will be louder than an F-15 during take-off!, 8) Obviously the work of some stupid (insert political party here), 9) Something about pickleball, 10) something about dogs.

Then (and only then) can we have a discussion equal to the Troll discussions.
- Randy Winn November 12, 2023 (8:31 am)
  
  I think for efficiency we should just number the standard comments, so you might go:1,3, and especially 10!!!!

LivesInWS November 9, 2023 (5:16 pm)

Looks like it doesn’t have the marine blue “eyebrows” of the Steller’s jay.

Jethro Marx November 9, 2023 (6:09 pm)

Originally the statue was going to be a simple, beautiful Red Twig Dogwood branch, but then, due to new laws, we had to put a bird on it.

Little One November 9, 2023 (6:42 pm)

Bird law?
datamuse November 9, 2023 (7:03 pm)

Ahahahaha
Z November 9, 2023 (9:20 pm)

This made my day! Orders of magnitude better than the name suggestions (awesome) or WSB having to explain a Steller Jay vs. Blue Jay (sad? – though not for WSB).Jethro – FTW!!
Further history on the bird’s namesake is also fascinating. Until today I didn’t know a “party” in avian parlance was equivalent to a flock of seagulls or “murder” of crows.
WS Res November 10, 2023 (11:04 am)

What do you think this is, Portland??

rob November 9, 2023 (6:34 pm)

finaly tax money going to somthing worth it.

EJ November 15, 2023 (11:11 am)

Really?! Hahaha!

Molly November 10, 2023 (1:00 am)

Early next year the stellar’s jay will be renamed to remove the name of the naturalist who discovered/named it. It’s part of the move to remove human names from bird names (bird names for birds). They will in also be renaming Anna’s hummingbird, another common one seen on the WSB. Exciting times to be a birder! https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/inside-aos-recommendation-bird-common-names/#

datamuse November 10, 2023 (6:53 am)

Any word what the Steller’s new name will be? I kinda like Screamin’ Jay, though arguably then it’s still named after a person. Appropriately descriptive though. ;)
- Omen November 10, 2023 (5:17 pm)
  
  I know the AOS is working to try and remove eponymous names to something more descriptive (So “Screamin’ Jay” is certainly a possibility!) but I’ve seen more than a few people advocating for Stellar Jay, which I would adore. Pacific Jay and Crested Jay seem appropriate but there’s 14 sub-species and not all of them are close to the ocean nor have crests. I really love the Lushootseed name for them, kaykay, but I doubt it’ll be up for consideration.

Sorry, comment time is over.