Clark's Nutcracker

With the changing weather, we have had a change in our birds! Which is always exciting to see some new guys. We have a small flock (?) of Clark's Nutcrackers. These are not new to us, as we've seen them many times in Yellowstone and Teton Parks, almost yearly. They love our berry suet, and are loving the huge grasshoppers that are still hopping around. I was just reading about them and was amazed at what I read. I read that a Nutcracker can plant an entire forest in its lifetime. Because he hides so many seeds that he just doesn't need. Up to 33,000 per season! That is a lot of seeds! But I have to say that I am not all love for these guys. They have a very annoying call, and they drive our cat crazy!

Golden Eagle

On a recent road trip through the vast nothingness that is Wyoming, we came across a pair of Golden Eagles on the side of the road. We were pretty close to being in Central Wyoming, about twenty miles from Devil's Gate and north of Rawlins. We've recently read that they live mainly on rabbits, which I know there was a lot of 'em out there. Jake has also seen one along the Ririe highway in SouthEast Idaho. I think it's funny that we've seen these enormous birds, which are fairly rare, along busy highways. They are certainly a beautiful bird, and very large!

Buddies

We have moved. And since we've moved, we've lost a lot of our trees and landscape. Here's what our yard looks like now.



If you look really closely at this picture, just to the left of the arch, you can see what's left of Palisades Reservoir. In the spring, the water was so high, and now it's not. I guess that's the way things work.

With our move, comes new birds. We've seen the usual birds around here. But we've been seeing large flocks of Mountain Bluebirds. I've never seen this many anywhere! This morning there were probably a dozen! Very cool.


These guys have been hanging out with the Bluebirds. I couldn't decide which picture of the Yellow Rump to use. So I used all of them.




The variety(?) that I've been seeing is very light, with very few dark feathers.

I'm just wondering if these two species generally hang out together? They come in the same flock, and they leave in the same flock! With the dozen Bluebirds, there were at least the same number of Warblers. The sit very near each other on the fence line, adjacent fence posts, and near each other on the ground. Are they perhaps migrating together?

Either way, these are two fantastic birds, and I love having them visit us!