The Birders Report

Common Raven in the Fog

by Larry Jordan on October 2, 2013

After releasing a pair of juvenile Brown Pelicans at Fort Baker that had been rehabilitated by International Bird Rescue, I decided to head up to Hawk Hill in the Golden Gate National Park to partake in the annual Hawk Watch.

Common Raven (Corvus corax) photos by Larry Jordan

Unfortunately, Hawk Hill was fogged in…

but luckily for me…

there was a lone Common Raven perched on the railing, vocalizing.

He or she was very cooperative and let me approach close enough to get some full frame photos…

watching me closely for the entire photo shoot 😉

Most unfortunately, due to the lack of congressional legislators to do their jobs, as of October 1st, the Golden Gate National Park as well as all other national parks, are closed until further notice. You can see a list of the impacts on the San Francisco Bay Area here. You can get a better idea of the broad effects of the shutdown at Wikipedia.

On a brighter note, if you want to see some more cool bird photos, check out The Bird D’pot and Wild Bird Wednesday!

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International Bird Rescue Pelican Release

by Larry Jordan on September 25, 2013

Besides the video above, you can see the full story of my Pelican Partner pelican release with International Bird Rescue in my most recent 10000 Birds west coast beat writer post.

Right now, until the end of September, International Bird Rescue is having a membership drive and every new member donation will be matched dollar for dollar up to $10,000. So donate NOW!

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Clark’s Nutcracker at Lassen Volcanic National Park

by Larry Jordan on September 2, 2013

Clark’s Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) photos by Larry Jordan

This handsome corvid was named after Captain William Clark, the explorer of Lewis and Clark fame, in 1805. It inhabits the high montane regions of the western United States and Canada, preferring coniferous forest dominated by one or more species of large-seeded pines¹. Click on photos for full sized images.

Our Audubon group makes an annual outing to Lassen Volcanic National Park where we usually find Clark’s Nutcrackers feeding on pine nuts of one of the several conifer species found in the park. Even though they have several adaptations for their specialized pine seed diet, the Clark’s Nutcracker is an opportunistic forager. They also eat insects and spiders, small animals, and carrion.

Their special adaptations include a long, sharp bill, used to open conifer cones, extract seeds, and place seeds in caches, and a sublingual pouch, used to transport seeds to cache sites. Individual Clark’s Nutcrakers can store up to 90,000 whitebark pine seeds per year for later retrieval².

Unfortunately, last year’s Audubon trip was cancelled due to the Reading Fire which burned over 28,000 acres before it was contained. This is a photo of the area near Hat Lake where we not only found the Clark’s Nutcrackers but also the Black-backed Woodpecker and Williamson’s Sapsucker.

Lassen Volcanic National Park Reading Fire Burn Area Near Hat Lake

I recorded a video of a group of Clark’s Nutcrackers foraging near the burned area at the end of July. In the beginning of the video you will see the bird foraging nuts from the cones by hopping from cone to cone, then swallowing the seed or pounding it open between its feet. In the second half of the video (in much better light) the bird forages for insects and arthropods behind the bark. If you listen carefully you can hear the constant, almost clock like sound of the bark beetle munching on the tree I’m standing next to.

Finally, I am adding a photo from Wikipedia Commons of a Clark’s Nutcracker landing with its wings spread so you can see its distinctive field marks. Photograph taken by Michael Sulis, July 9th, 2006 near McNeil Point, Mount Hood, Oregon Cascades.