A Bird Named Clark

A Bird Named Clark

We spent today bird watching again. We wanted to find a really interesting bird that is known for its amazing memory! So off we went with our binoculars in search of the Clark’s Nutcracker!

Date: 11/16

Location: Temperate Rainforest

• Clark’s nutcrackers have long shark beaks for extracting pine seeds from cones.
• They store these seeds for the winter.

• Scientists say Clark’s nutcrackers make a spacial map in their brain and that is how they remember where their food caches are!
• Unlike other birds, Clark’s nutcrackers are active during winter and often may have chicks in January or February.
• These amazing birds do forget seeds over the season and in turn plant pine trees all over the forest.
• Clark’s nutcrackers are members of the corvid family (crows and jays).
• These great little birds were discovered by William Clark on his expedition west with Meriwether Lewis!
• They do stay in monogamous pairs. Both female and males incubate the eggs.

We had so much fun watching these gregarious birds in the forest! We are so fascinated by their cache behavior. Their memory is crazy. Scientist have studied these little birds to learn about how intelligent they really are. Edmond swears they keep little maps with X marks to keep up with all of those seeds!