Gray Jays and Clarks Nutcrackers - Have you seen us?

By Rob Pudim

Gray Jays (Perisoreus canadensis) and Clark’s Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) are two year round residents in the high-country despite the wind and weather. Both birds are members of the Corvid Family and are considered Jays. Both have pockets in their cheeks to store food and are commonly called “camp robbers” because they are noisy and not afraid of sneaking food from people.

Meet the Gray Jay

The Gray Jay is gray, of course, and has a white head and a light gray line through its eyes. Like other Corvids it will eat anything: insects, fruit, seeds, carrion and a backpackers’ dinners.  Canadians call it the “Canada Jay”.

Meet The Clark’s Nutcracker

The Clark’s Nutcracker, named for William Clark during his Voyage of Discovery expedition, has a flashy pattern of black, white and gray feathers. It mostly eats pine seeds and like a lot of jays, it stores caches of pine seeds and has a good memory of where they are located. The Nutcracker, however, often leaves behind hidden seeds that sprout into young pines. Indeed the Clark’s Nutcracker and pines have been working together for thousands of years. It is thought that the Limber Pine and White Pine have cones that stick up vertically, a possible genetic adaptation, to make seed gathering by the Clark’s Nutcracker easier. Biologists call this phenomenon ”mutual commensalism”, where one organism obtains food from another without damaging it and provides the donor a benefit.  No pines, no Clark’s Nutcrackers, and vice-versa.

Climate change might interfere with this sharing as ecosystems evolve.  Losing the rising sound of Clark’s Nutcrackers’ schraaaa in the high-country would truly be a loss for us all.

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High-Country Flora, Fauna and Geography Column

IPWA volunteers are often asked by visitors not just about the trails, but about what they are seeing in the Indian Peaks and James Peak Wilderness Areas. This column will cover some of the plants, animals and geographic features that hikers, anglers and backpackers may come across in these areas.  

About Rob Pudim

A long time Boulder resident, Rob describes himself as “a coal-miner's son from Pennsylvania,  a "fallen" scientist (Chemistry, Rutgers University and Microbiology, Tulane University) an editorial cartoonist, an amateur lepidopterist, a Native Plant Master, and a long-time birder”.  His affiliation with IPWA goes back to its founding in the 1980s.