The Flying Tree Planter
Clarks Nutcracker
Throughout the Okanogan and Columbia Highlands our mountain slopes are an intermix of conifer forest with the ponderosa pine as one of the dominant species. Looking close within these sloping pine woodlands the flashing white of wing and tail may guide us to an observation of the Clark’s Nutcracker.
Throughout the Okanogan and Columbia Highlands our mountain slopes are an intermix of conifer forest with the ponderosa pine as one of the dominant species. Looking close within these sloping pine woodlands the flashing white of wing and tail may guide us to an observation of the Clark’s Nutcracker.
This avian (Nucifraga Columbiana) is of the crow and jay
family (Corvidae) but was mistaken by Captain William Clark, of the Lewis and
Clark Corps of Discovery, as a woodpecker. A specimen, collected in Idaho, was
brought back with the corps and later described by naturalist Alexander Wilson
who named it after the Captain.
The Clark’s
Nutcracker can often be seen in winter when these active foragers fly from
cache to cache uncovering the large pine seeds they placed there months
ago. While the year round staple food of
a Clark’s Nutcracker is pine seeds, either fresh or stored, like many Passeriformes
these birds have a variable diet and eat insects, spiders, other birds, ground
squirrels, chipmunks, voles, toads, and carrion. I’m certain that many of us
have observed the nutcracker working our suet feeders. In the summer and autumn
seasons nutcrackers employ their knife-like bills to rip open pine cones and
dig out the seeds. These birds have a unique pouch under their tongues to convey
the seeds, which they carry off and bury for the winter. It is not unusual for
these birds to stash tens of thousands of seeds. What’s remarkable is
scientific study of the Clark’s Nutcracker shows the bird remembers the
location of most of it’s hoards. An
added bonus from this creature’s hard work is seeds not retrieved are a
fundamental component in the growing of new pine forests. A classic example of
an interdependent relationship – Nutcracker feeds off the fruits of the pine
and transports seeds to expansive locations, new pines grow to produce more
cones. “Not only do the lives of Clark’s Nutcrackers revolve around their pine
seed diet,” states the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, “but the pines themselves
have been shaped by their relationship with the nutcrackers. Whitebark pines,
limber pines, Colorado pinyon pines, single-leaf pinyon pines, and southwestern
white pines depend on nutcrackers to disperse their seeds. Over time this
interaction has changed their seeds, their cones, and even the trees’ overall
shape in comparison with other pine species whose seeds are dispersed by the
wind. The Clark’s Nutcracker tests a seed for soundness by moving it up and
down in its bill while quickly opening and closing its bill, in a motion known
as “bill clicking.” It also chooses good seeds by color: when foraging on
Colorado pinyon pines, it refuses all but dark brown seeds.”
Captain Clark’s mistake regarding his namesake nutcracker is
easily understandable as this bird soars thru the subalpine forest canopy with woodpecker-like
swoops, perching on branches, and jabbing
at cones with their bills.
To observe the Clark’s Nuthatch, especially in the warmer
seasons, look to the conifers in our
nearby mountains, near the treeline. Clark’s Nutcrackers are sociable birds commonly
traveling in small flocks, calling back and forth with far-carrying, rolling
calls. These birds generally breed in the higher elevations, foraging in the
upper slopes in the summer, dropping to lower woodlands in the fall and winter.
In what might be said to be a contradiction of behavior the nuthatch generally
lives in habitats far from human contact but when we find them in campgrounds,
parking lots and around our backyard feeders they exhibit little wariness
toward humans.
When locating and building the nest, both males and females
play an active role. These birds choose forks in outer branches of conifer
trees, built on the side of the tree that is prevalently downwind of the normal
weather pattern for protection. During the actual weaving of the nest the male
will perch as lookout while the female forms the nest from mutually gathered
raw materials. Dried grass, fine strips of bark, moss, and sometimes animal
hair, form the nest center with a layer of mineral soil on the floor. Both adults
of this mated pair are brooders, taking turns with the eggs while the other
gather’s seeds from its cache. The nestlings are fed seeds from storage as
well.
According to the North American Breeding Bird Survey populations
of Clark's Nutcrackers were generally stable from 1966 to 2010. There is some
concern locally of declines possibly due
to the pine beetle epidemic. Drought years like our recent summers past also
influence forest health and may impact the interdependent relationship between
bird and tree. Unfortunately the massive landscape wildfires of 2015 and 2016
in our region has negatively impacted many species of birds and mammals. The
oldest Clark’s Nutcracker on record was at least 17 years, 5 months old.
So grab the field glasses, head out into the forest and
watch for that “flashing white of wing and tail” it may very well be a Clark’s
Nutcracker, or then again, it could be just another woodpecker…
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