{"id":95782,"date":"2021-10-02T06:30:44","date_gmt":"2021-10-02T12:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=95782"},"modified":"2022-04-26T09:48:15","modified_gmt":"2022-04-26T15:48:15","slug":"how-i-found-a-flock-of-clarks-nutcrackers-yesterday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/02\/how-i-found-a-flock-of-clarks-nutcrackers-yesterday\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Found A Flock Of Clark’s Nutcrackers Yesterday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TwoTwo Clark’s Nutcrackers perched on a distant Douglas Fir \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I heard a Clark’s Nutcracker calling in the sky island mountains of Utah’s West Desert yesterday morning and because I heard it I started to keep my eyes out for these gray, black, and white members of the corvid family. I started hearing the whirring call of Clark’s Nutcrackers<\/span><\/a> in those mountains last year and now I hear them often.<\/p>\n

I spotted a rounded, light colored area on the top of Douglas Fir that was about the equivalent of two football fields away that I knew shouldn’t be there. I believed it might be a Clark’s Nutcracker so I scoped it with my lens. My eyes and my birding instincts didn’t lead me astray because there was a Clark’s Nutcracker perched at the top of the fir. Pointing the nutcracker out when there were about half a dozen other Douglas Firs in the area was not as easy.<\/p>\n

After getting closer to the fir tree a second Clark’s Nutcracker flew in and joined the first nutcracker I spotted.<\/p>\n

\"Clark'sClark’s Nutcrackers on a Douglas Fir \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Then more nutcrackers called<\/span><\/a> as they flew in. How many nutcrackers do you see in this Douglas Fir?<\/p>\n

There are five nutcrackers in this photo. More of them were flying overhead and landing in other nearby trees.<\/p>\n

Clark’s Nutcrackers are kind of nemesis birds for me. I see them many times a year where most often they are flying past high overhead or are perched too far away to photograph. Sometimes I only hear them and that can be frustrating.\u00a0 I wish I had been able to get closer to this Douglas Fir where they perched, preened and called but the tree was quite a distance from the dirt road and there was a creek in between the road and the tree. I just could not get closer without leaving the mobile blind I was in and going after them on foot plus the nutcrackers would have flown away when they saw me on foot.<\/p>\n

One of the nutcrackers did fly in and land on a nearby juniper where I could have gotten wonderful full body photos of it. Unfortunately I had another juniper obstructing my view of it and the 20 or 30 odd seconds it took to get past the juniper that was obstructing my view was enough time for the nutcracker to fly away.<\/p>\n

\"Clark'sClark’s Nutcracker perched on a juniper \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Another one of the striking gray, white, and black Clark’s Nutcrackers flew in and landed on a juniper where I had a clean, unobstructed view of it. This perch wasn’t as close as the other juniper but I liked the view I had of the bird even though it was giving me an over the back and read end look.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe butt end of a Clark’s Nutcracker on a juniper \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And speaking of read ends… I would know that this bird was a Clark’s Nutcracker even if the only<\/em> view I got of it looked liked the photo above. It isn’t much to go on for a positive ID but this view is enough for me.<\/p>\n

\"DistantDistant Clark’s Nutcracker on a juniper \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

As much as I hoped that another one of the Clark’s Nutcrackers would fly in close enough for me to get frame filling images of it that didn’t happen yesterday.<\/p>\n

By using my ears, eyes, my birding skills, and because I was paying attention I was able to find this small flock of one of my nemesis birds. Perhaps the next time I head out to the mountains I will get the images of this species I desire.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Clark’s Nutcracker photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My eyes and my birding instincts didn’t lead me astray because there was a Clark’s Nutcracker perched at the top of the fir.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,3191,358,26,1314],"tags":[970,12344,3940,3192,3194,6877,6490,4787,4620,8009,6909,3914,4674,2691,4069,3193,12343,3195,5129,6878,6568,10452,4427,4076,2690],"class_list":["post-95782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-clarks-nutcrackers","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-autumn","tag-birding-instincts","tag-canyon","tag-clarks-nutcracker","tag-corvids","tag-douglas-fir","tag-ears","tag-eyes","tag-fall","tag-fir","tag-firs","tag-juniper","tag-junipers","tag-juniperus-osteosperma","tag-mountains","tag-nucifraga-columbiana","tag-nutcracker","tag-nutcrackers","tag-paying-attention","tag-pseudotsuga-menziesii","tag-skills","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-tree","tag-trees","tag-utah-juniper"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/clarks-nutcracker-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-7088.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-oUS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19688,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/02\/06\/clarks-nutcracker-in-the-high-uintas\/","url_meta":{"origin":95782,"position":0},"title":"Clark’s Nutcracker in the High Uintas","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"So, a quick post this morning of a Clark's Nutcracker that I photographed in July of 2008 on my first trip to Utah to photograph birds prior to moving here in 2009.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Clark's Nutcracker in the High Uintas, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/clarks-nutcracker-uintas-mia-mcpherson-0455.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/clarks-nutcracker-uintas-mia-mcpherson-0455.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/clarks-nutcracker-uintas-mia-mcpherson-0455.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":96239,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/14\/snow-dusted-views-of-utahs-west-desert-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":95782,"position":1},"title":"Snow Dusted Views Of Utah’s West Desert Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw snow on Utah's West Desert mountains for the first time since late spring so I thought I'd share a few views of what I saw while out there yesterday morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Tooele County"","block_context":{"text":"Tooele County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/tooele-county\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dusting of snow on Utah's West Desert mountains, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/west-desert-after-fall-snow-mia-mcpherson-085927.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/west-desert-after-fall-snow-mia-mcpherson-085927.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/west-desert-after-fall-snow-mia-mcpherson-085927.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/west-desert-after-fall-snow-mia-mcpherson-085927.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":60228,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/09\/15\/douglas-firs-bird-food-grown-stored-and-served-in-handy-cones\/","url_meta":{"origin":95782,"position":2},"title":"Douglas Firs – Bird Food Grown, Stored And Served in Handy Cones","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The cones of Douglas Firs provide food for birds and mammals and the trees provide shelter and nesting areas too. I've been paying attention to the Douglas Firs we have here for several years because of the birds I know I can find eating the seeds of the trees from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Douglas Fir cone in morning light, Stansbury Mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/douglas-fir-cone-mia-mcpherson-7231.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/douglas-fir-cone-mia-mcpherson-7231.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/douglas-fir-cone-mia-mcpherson-7231.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/douglas-fir-cone-mia-mcpherson-7231.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61515,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/11\/19\/focusing-on-photographing-foraging-mountain-chickadees\/","url_meta":{"origin":95782,"position":3},"title":"Focusing On Photographing Foraging Mountain Chickadees","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Two mornings ago a small flock of Mountain Chickadees came in to forage on the seeds in some Douglas Fir trees and I had fun trying to keep up with the small dynamos.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Foraging Mountain Chickadee hanging on a fir cone, West Desert, Tooele County, 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