These birds are large, about the size of Blue Jays, and inhabit the higher mountain areas of the west. They pull out seeds from the cones of pine trees, especially White Pines, stash them in a pouch under their tongue and then bury them in a cache for the winter. Each bird will bury tens of thousands of seeds during the summer and will remember the locations of most of them: the ones they can’t find plant more trees. It is said that some birds will plant trees but the Clark’s Nutcracker will plant forests.
I had always read that the seeds of the White Pine were a large part of a Grizzly Bear’s diet, but I could never figure out how such a huge bear was able to get the seeds from the cones. I later read that they will sniff out the large caches of seeds buried by the Nutcrackers and feed on those.
Today we are experiencing the seventh or eighth influx of cold Arctic air of this winter into western Montana, the most that I can recall ever seeing. This morning the beauty of it seemed greatest in the trees. These photos were taken at -6º (F).
Today on a trip to get supplies, I encountered a section on the hills to the south of Flathead Lake where the trees were covered with a combination of snow and hoarfrost. The trees were white, the ground was white and the sky was white so there wasn’t much contrast, but the trees were beautiful and so I tried a few photos along a little road that left the highway and headed back into the reservation. I couldn’t drive the road today so I just hiked back in a ways. The road is very inviting and so on a sunny day I’ll go back in further with the Jeep and perhaps do better.
