Birders,

The attached note from Richard Swanston of Delta is of interest
because of the impressive number of Clark's Nutcrackers reported on
the move. The movement of nutcrackers reported by Andy Stepniewski
from Yakima County, WA, obviously extends northward into BC. I also
noted recently on OBOL (Oregon Birders On Line) that a group of 5
nutcrackers was reported on Mary's Peak, in the Oregon Coast Range
west of Corvallis.

Something funny is definitely happening with Nutcrackers in the
Merritt, B.C. area as well. Nutcracker numbers have been above normal
all summer in valley-bottom (ponderosa pine) areas. The number counted
on my Canford BBS route west of Merritt in July was 22 Nutcrackers, a
25-year high. In addition, on September 17, I saw a group of 15
nutcrackers in a valley-bottom location where they would not normally
be seen, plus 3 more flying across treeless rangeland near Douglas
Lake.

It would seem that Clark's Nutcrackers are experiencing a food
shortage in at least parts of their breeding range and are wandering
to other parts of their range-- and even to points outside their
normal range-- in search of food. This kind of mass movement or
"irruption" of nutcrackers has happened in a number of previous years
in the Northwest. Anybody observing unusual numbers of nutcrackers, or
observing them in unusual localities, is encouraged to report them so
that we can put together a more complete picture of what is happening.

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops, B.C.
wayne_weber at bc.sympatico.ca

P.S. I believe Richard's Nutcracker location is Blackwall Peak, not
the First Brother-- there are no microwave towers on the First
Brother.


-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Swanston <Rickswan at attcanada.ca>
To: WAYNE_WEBER at bc.sympatico.ca <WAYNE_WEBER at bc.sympatico.ca>
Date: Thursday, September 14, 2000 8:41 PM
Subject: Manning Park 09/13/00.


On Sept. 13 , 00. while hiking up the First Brother at
Manning Park [ 2250 meters up Near the Micro wave towers ] I noted
at least 5 Groups of 11 to 15 Clarks Nutcrackers . Braking over the
North Ridge and flying down the other side of the Valley toward the
direction of the lodge area . Is this sort of movement of interest to
you ,
and is it common ? They were easy to count because you could see
them pop over at the 2100 foot level in single file . BUT I did not
have the foresight to conduct counts from the onset of my first
sighting . One thing of note is that 2 birds had very distended
cheeks
very distorted [ stored food ? ] .

Also seen in the burn out area between the First
Brother and the Micro wave tower was a fall out of 100 or so Yellow
rumped Warblers working the burnout area on the forest fringe . And
at
the start of the hike about 08:50 near the Micro Wave Tower another
fall out of 60 to 70 working the East slope of a cliff on the sunny
side as the frost came off the trees. Also seen were smaller groups of
Horned Lark and a few Pipits working the cliff sides, 4 Kestrels, 2
Cooper's Hawks (near the micro wave tower) and one Red-tailed Hawk.


Richard Swanston
Delta, BC
rickswan at attcanada.ca