Clark’s Nutcracker Comes on the Scene

Clark’s Nutcracker (Nucifrago columbiana) is a bird native to the mountains of Idaho. It normally resides near peaks and at tree-line.

However a pair of Clark’s Nutcrackers have decided to join their cousins – the Stellar Jay – at the feeders of our home in Stanley.

The Clark’s Nutcracker grows to about one foot (12″) in height and lives to about 10-12 years of age. The bird was first documented on August 22nd, 1805 by William Clark at the North Fork of the Salmon River (in today’s State of Idaho) during the Lewis & Clark Expedition. A wonderfully descriptive story about the first encounter and complete background is located [here].

On this morning I notice a Clark’s Nutcracker sitting a top a Lodgepole Pine on our property. The bird is located about 150 feet in the air and 300 feet from the deck of our cabin.

The bird makes calls and surveys all 360 degrees of the territorial view for a number of minutes before flying off.

The Stellar at the Lubeck Cabin. The number of Stellar Jays at the feeders has grown from three to eight in the last week.

*** Jeff’s Thoughts and Other Worthless Trivia ***

The onset of fall-time in the Sawtooth Mountains and Stanley brings the regular return of sub zero evenings (20 degrees) and warm dry sunny days (mid 70 degrees). The colors of the vegetation begin their turn to gold and red. The sun rises and sets with more reds. The amount of daylight has passed below the 12 hour threshold. It is my favorite time of year.

Dawn on Highway 75 at Phantom Hill. Duncan’s Ridge, Hyndman, Old-Hyndman and Cobb Peak are in the distance.

The implication of the weather change is that a good portion of the birds visiting our feeders this spring and summer have moved to other locations.

The photographs of the Clark’s Nutcracker were captured with the Nikon Z9 Camera and the Nikon Z 800MM/f6.3 Prime Lens. I captured the images with manually configured settings either hand-held or using a tri-pod.

Aperture: f8 to f11

Speed: f/2000 to f/4000

ISO: 640 to 1000

Color Depth: 14Bit RAW

Color Temperature: 5000

Attempting to establish light reading at 1 Stop Down

For more images of birds with the Z800MM Prime lens, a link is [here].

For an example of action images captured with the Z800MM Prime lens, a link is [here].

The images of the Stellar Jay were captured with the Nikon Z9 Camera and the Nikon Z 50MM/f1.2 Prime Lens. I captured the images with manually configured settings using a tri-pod.

Aperture: f3.5

Speed: f/3200

ISO: 800

Color Depth: 14Bit RAW

Color Temperature: 5000

The image of Dawn was captured with the Sony RX1R with the Zeiss 35M/f2.0 lens. I captured the image with manually configured settings hand-held.

Aperture: f2.8

Speed: 1/250

ISO: 100

Color Depth: 10Bit RAW

Color Temperature: 4000