[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2014] – There is something a bit mythical about Clark’s Nutcracker in San Diego County. This species has been seen here during a few winter corvid southward irruptions (movements) in years gone by, but the only other records are odd singletons seen and gone the same day. A real county nemesis bird! I was just driving home on the coast today when news came that Dan King had spotted one in the Laguna Mountains! I wasted no time getting in the eastbound lane of Highway 8 and heading up there! After searching around at the original location suddenly we heard one individual calling and it came flying back to the original tree where Dan had made the first observation. A little later, together with Matt Sadowski and Paul Lehman, we watched three Clark’s Nutcracker Nucifraga columbiana regroup themselves and fly off east a short distance.
I trekked off following the nutcrackers and finally caught up with them quietly harvesting pine nuts. In the photos below you can see the nutcracker prying open the scales of the pine cone with its powerful saber shaped beak. The three birds then moved off to a sickly live oak where they removed large pieces of bark in search of invertebrates. I watched the three nutcrackers at close quarters for almost an hour by myself. It was a wonderful experience watching the nuances of the three birds interacting as a group and the clever means by which they explored their environment for food. Silent for long periods of time they would suddenly begin cawing with bill held high in the air when they lost track of one another among the pines and oaks.
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Clark’s Nutcracker – Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California 16 Feb 2014
Nice photos Gary
Great stuff as usual.
Thank you for these great images. I love seeing these birds while backpacking up San Jacinto and in other mountains to the north; good to see they are also closer to home.
Is it true these birds cache seeds of various trees and other plants?
I was once told they cache seeds, and don’t always return to recover them. Some surmise this is one reason for groups of trees growing close together out of boulders/rock crevices in many places. (In addition to forgotten caches of other animals.)
Hi Lori, yes the Clark’s Nutcrackers cache many thousands of pine nuts. If you look in my photos you will see one where the bird is about to place the pine nut underneath the tree bark!
Gary.
Hi Gary, is the petrel too big for a black-storm petrel?
Based on the 15 or more people amassed watching it, we agreed it seemed too small for a Black Storm-Petrel. We all thought it looked more Leach’s Storm-Petrel sized in the field.