Clark's nutcrackers

Now that I’m settled back down n the Midwest, I’ve had time to go through photos and notes from my trip out to Colorado. I think my favorite bird sighting was of one that’s very familiar to visitors to and residents of the Rockies, the Clark’s nutcracker.

Sadly, despite several great sightings of this noisy, clever corvid, I have no photos. We tended to encounter them along the trail while toting heavy packs and maneuvering with trekking poles; by the time I could get to a phone or a camera the birds had moved along or further up into the canopy. We had a big one hanging around in the park campground and it finally came down out of the trees and perched on a log sawhorse in our campsite. It had a huge whole pine cone in its beak and was squawking proudly...and it was between me and the picnic table where my phone was sitting. By the time I snuck over to grab the phone, the bird flew off with its prize.

My first introduction to Clark’s nutcrackers (named after William Clark of the famed Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery expedition) was in Montana in and around Glacier National Park, where my aunt Natalie pointed one out to me. I do have one blurry photo of one of them from that trip — it’s perched at the tip top of a spruce tree, which is a good place to watch for them.

Clark’s nutcrackers are in the corvid family, related to jays and crows. Most of the birds you see around the park in the fall are corvids — nutcrackers, Steller’s jays, Canada jays, black-billed magpies, and ravens. They’re well-adapted to the harsh environment and Clark’s nutcrackers in particular have evolved to live in a narrow band of subalpine forest. Clark’s nutcrackers also slightly resemble Canada jays, but they’re bigger and chunkier, and they lack the jay’s white face and “bandit mask” . Nutcrackers have black wings and a white undertail that they flash to great effect while in flight. If you don’t see them in flight, you’ll know they’re around by their buzzy, loud “KRAAAAWK” calls.

Like other corvids, Clark’s nutcrackers are extremely intelligent and have brilliant memories that help them sustain themselves and even raise their families during the winter. They’ve got a pouch under their tongues that allows them to carry up to 130 pine seeds at a time, which they then cache underground and in rock and wood crevices. They stash many thousands of these seeds over areas covering miles, and remember where most of them are. Having this food source in the winter allows them to breed even in January. Pairs are monogamous and stay together for years, and unlike other corvids males assist with incubating the eggs. They even grow a brood patch on their chest just like the mom birds.

One of the coolest things about this bird is how their behavior has shaped their environment. Several mountain conifer species are dependent on the nutcracker’s habit of caching seeds. Whitebark pines are almost entirely seeded by the birds, and many trees have evolved structures and cone shapes to allow their seeds to be distributed by birds.

While they eat mostly pine seeds, Clark’s nutcrackers will stop at bird feeders and like woodpeckers seem to prefer peanuts and suet (in fact, the guy the bird is named after thought they were woodpeckers the first time he saw them).

They also will occasionally eat small birds and mammals. This cracks me up because they also will forage with other birds and mammals, who let them eat first. You can’t blame the other species for waiting their turn; if the Clark’s nutcrackers are full, they’re less likely to decide that their dining companions are dinner.

Clark’s nutcrackers are very visible birds out West, but their pine-based diet puts some pressure on them due to conifer die-offs from things like bark beetle infestations and white pine blister rust. This has affected their population in the Pacific Northwest. They also are slowly losing habitat as subalpine habitats are shrinking as the climate warms and alpine environments move upslope. Still, they’re tough, smart critters and I hope they can adapt and continue to plant trees and greet people who venture out on the trails.

Sarah Morris, a bird-watcher and outdoorswoman who explores Wisconsin from her home base in the Wausau area, may be reached at morrisoutside@gmail.com.