Thanks to just one word ?anthocyanins? I could widen my search and found this article!

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/bbimages/lb/pdf/LB-Nutcracker-1977.pdf <https://www.allaboutbirds.org/bbimages/lb/pdf/LB-Nutcracker-1977.pdf>

?While harvesting seed, nutcrackers become covered on their breast and throat with red color from anthocyanins - pigments in cones (Mirov, 1967) - from contact with the broken ends of scales.?

I think, mystery solved :)

Thanks again, Guy!

Dasha Gudalewicz
Sammamish, WA


> On Sep 24, 2016, at 5:31 PM, Gudalewicz Dasha <dasha at gudalewicz.com> wrote:
>
> Guy,
>
> That is great!
> Thanks a lot!
>
> Dasha Gudalewicz
> Sammamish, WA
>
>
>> On Sep 24, 2016, at 5:24 PM, Guy <lguy_Mcw at yahoo.com <mailto:lguy_Mcw at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>>
>> From Teresa Lorenz, a couple of years ago, when I also spotted some Nutcrackers with purple faces ...
>> "Red anthocyanins (pigments) in unripe whitebark pine
>> cones stain the face and breast feathers of nutcrackers foraging on unripe
>> cones. "
>>
>> Guy McWethy
>> Renton, WA
>> Lguy_mcw at yahoo
>>
>> On Sep 24, 2016, at 11:07 AM, Gudalewicz Dasha <dasha at gudalewicz.com <mailto:dasha at gudalewicz.com>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello Tweets,
>>>
>>> Two weeks ago at Sunrise, Mount Rainier, I saw and photographed a nutcracker with throat stained pinkish/purplish. That reminded me that three years ago, in July, 2013, I saw two birds with similar stains, also at Sunrise.
>>>
>>> First six images here:
>>> <https://ololaiki.smugmug.com/Animals/Birds/Corvids/Clarks-Nutcracker-2/>https://ololaiki.smugmug.com/Animals/Birds/Corvids/Clarks-Nutcracker-2/ <https://ololaiki.smugmug.com/Animals/Birds/Corvids/Clarks-Nutcracker-2/>
>>>
>>> That made me curious. But I couldn?t find anywhere what causes such staining.
>>>
>>> And the only other photos I found online were made in Banff NP:
>>> <https://leerentz.wordpress.com/2010/10/30/banff-national-park-friendly-relations-between-clarks-nutcracker-and-whitebark-pine/>https://leerentz.wordpress.com/2010/10/30/banff-national-park-friendly-relations-between-clarks-nutcracker-and-whitebark-pine/ <https://leerentz.wordpress.com/2010/10/30/banff-national-park-friendly-relations-between-clarks-nutcracker-and-whitebark-pine/>
>>>
>>> I asked Dennis Paulson if he ever saw something like that and he did! At Sunrise in October 1974 he photographed what he called ?Purple-throated Fruitcrow? :)
>>>
>>> Dennis and I think that the most reasonable theory is that immature Whitebark Pine cones produce some kind of purplish stain.
>>>
>>> From Clark?s Nutcracker profile on BNA Online:
>>> ?Beginning mid- to late Jul, harvests unripe pine seeds ( Tomback 1978a <https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/clanut/references#REF7261> , Hutchins and Lanner 1982 <https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/clanut/references#REF7244> , Christensen et al. 1991 <https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/clanut/references#REF41626> ). Removes seeds from closed whitebark, pi?on, limber, Jeffrey, and ponderosa pine cones??
>>>
>>> But at the same time:
>>> ?Whitebark pine seeds stored as early as 15 Aug in Rocky Mtns. and 25 Aug in Sierra Nevada.?
>>>
>>> Does anybody know when nutcrackers start collecting Whitebark seeds at Rainier? (as my first sighting was in July)
>>> Have any of you encountered (and probably photographed) stained nutcrackers?
>>> Or have you handled unripe Whitebark cones and can confirm that they stain?
>>> If you?re planning on hiking Rainier (or any other place where Whitebark Pines grow) would you be willing to collect a cone (if it is in the hand?s reach!) and check if it stains?
>>>
>>> Thank you!
>>> And happy birding,
>>>
>>> Dasha Gudalewicz,
>>> Sammamish, WA
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>