[Tweeters] A Park that Discovers Birds

[Alan Knue]

Hello Tom et al,

Clark's Nutcracker can be highly irruptive and shows up relatively
frequently in places where one would not normally expect them. Because it
relies heavily (but not exclusively) on mast seed crops, the uneven
seasonal nature of those crops inevitably mean that the species must be
ready to move from areas with little or no food to areas where food is more
readily found. For example, I have birded around the Leavenworth area
frequently and although I consistently find nutcrackers around the city,
they are by no means predictable from year to year and can be hard to find
even in years when the Ponderosa Pine crop seems good. Over several
autumns, I found them abundant in 2017, absent in 2018, just a few in 2019,
and slightly more abundant in 2020 but not anything like 2017.

The nutcracker's bill is well equipped for getting at pine seeds in green
cones, but is also well suited for prying and tearing in general. It is
considered an opportunistic forager and is known to regularly feed on
insects and spiders, small vertebrates, seed from bird feeders, suet, and
carrion.

Best, Alan

Alan Knue
Edmonds, WA



On Mon, Apr 12, 2021 at 2:41 PM THOMAS BENEDICT <benedict.t at comcast.net>
wrote:


> Given that there have been at least two independent reports now, I'm happy

> to surrender to the world of possibility. My birding skills are at the low

> to medium level, so I mis-identify birds all the time. Especially ones that

> are mostly gray.

>

> I wish the bird well. Not many pine nuts around here. Hope they happened

> to have a full throat pouch before getting "blown off" the mountain. Given

> that CLNU don't migrate much, I wonder where that they could get diverted

> from the peaks to the shore.

>

> Tom Benedict

> Seahurst, WA

>

>

> On 04/12/2021 2:12 PM David Hutchinson <florafaunabooks at hotmail.com>

> wrote:

>

>

> A kindly response to the suggestion that a Clark's Nutcracker might

> be too rare for Discovery Park. When riding shot-gun for Mrs. Kevin Li one

> day, I remember seeing one at the Historic District a couple

> of years ago? was the same day we saw a Clark's Grebe at the

> West Point Lighthouse. And somewhere in my mental fog, did not a

> Smith's Longspur occur at Marymoor Park? Let's all just surrender to

> the world of possibility.

>

> David Hutchinson

> F & F, 206-499-7305

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