Clark’s Nutcracker

Clark’s Nutcracker with a pine cone, gouache

It’s cold and snowy here in Dolores. There are no insects this time of year, most of the birds have migrated, most of the mammals are hibernating. When I take the dogs out to the woods, we are the noisiest things out there. There will be the occasional thump of snow falling off of pine branches, but otherwise it’s silent except for the sound of our breathing and the squeak of cold snow underfoot.

But every now and then we’ll hear birds calling. The calls will be a series of scratchy, croaking caws, sounds that make me think of Pterodactyls. Then we’ll see groups of crow-sized, gray, black and white birds, about the size of Crows, moving from tree top to tree top, squawking and chasing each other. Clark’s Nutcrackers!

Clark’s Nutcracker on a Pinyon Pine cone, at Mesa Verde

There are a lot of cool things about Clark’s Nutcrackers. One is that they live mostly on pine nuts.

Here’s a photo of one from earlier in the year, up at Mesa Verde. It’s pecking at a Pinyon Pine cone, trying to get the pine nuts out. Pinyon cones are incredibly sticky  ecause of the pine sap. They feel like they’ve been dipped in glue. It amazes me that the birds can get at the pine nuts at all.

Clark’s Nutcracker on a Pinyon Pine cone, at Mesa Verde

Another cool thing about Clarks Nutcrackers is what they do with the nuts. They hide them for later. They’ll bury them in the ground, hide them in cracks in the tree bark, etc. They remember where they put them, then come back to the hidden pine nuts up to nine months later.

Clark’s Nutcracker with Pinyon Pine cone, pencil drawing

Nine months later. I find this to be amazing because I often forget where I have parked the car at the grocery store.

So that’s how they are getting pine nuts in the middle of Winter.

Clark’s Nutcracker, watercolor

The birds will even dig through several feet of snow to retrieve a cache.

The Nutcrackers that we see are probably family groups. The fledglings follow their parents for months, taking advantage of the parents’ seed caches.

Other, non-family, Nutcrackers also follow these family groups around. These followers watch the parent birds, noting where the pine-seed caches are hidden. Then they rob the caches later.