spotted nutcracker

I get the feeling somebody's watching ... I'd better clear out and fly into a tree. Don't want those other corvids stealing my winter cache!

Don't want all my seeds in one bank vault, do I? Only problem is, this guy was leaving a pile of lawn moss everywhere he buried a pine seed ...

This set of photos just makes me cry. In the 20+ years I've lived out here I've never seen one (due to them living at a much higher altitude) and in the space of a couple of days last month I saw two. The first was literally just outside my kitchen door but the dog scared it off before I could...

This rare bird is since a couple of days in our country. The bird is not shy at all and sits often right in front of the photographers.

Delia's giving herself the short end of the stick on her Norway photos, as far as sharing her success goes. That SF shot wasn't all she got, only possibly the funniest one. She also got shots much like this one - which is also pretty funny, come to think of it, since the nutter just dropped that...

Delia's target bird - found in both of the first two parks we tried yesterday, and we both got some great shots of them too :D We've been out birding 'til late each day, and busy here at home after. I got about halfway caught up browsing today. Will try to get some more done tomorrow after our...

this one's for you, Delia!

KC said I needed to post a Nutcracker, and the Nutcracker said I needed to tell Delia he's still hoping to see her, so here he is with greetings to both.

This Spotted has spotted another cone. Was planning on posting one more of this nutcracker taking off with his prize once he'd pecked his way through the cone stem, but found that I've posted that one before. So next round, on Monday if/when I find time, will either be images from my Denmark...

Had one day at the office before taking off for Denmark for the rest of that month and the next. Was hard to get any work done, though, with the Nutcrackers still harvesting cones right outside my office window.

Trying to make room for another nut.

More photos on: www.ivansjogren.com

If only I'd held the shutter button down a split second longer, I might have had a shot of him flying away with that next-to-last cone from this tree this year. Oh well. Still kind of cool to see how he "falls" away from the tree and lifts his wings with kind of a shrug of his...

First they peck away at the stem for a while, spitting out bits that get stuck on their bill. Then, when they've got it whittled down, they grab at it to hold it while they snap it off. Sometimes it falls away from them, in which case they fly down for it. I don't imagine pine cones...

Hi all! Just got started browsing, then noticed the time. I have an early flight tomorrow, so I'll post these real quick then get some sleep. I'll get back to you when I'm in my rhus apartment or office later tomorrow. These three are from today. Had a quick stop by the office to talk to a...

The Spotted Nutcrackers are back outside my office window, and I'm going to miss most of the show this year. I was busy most of the day today - and the Nutcracker was mostly on the far side of the tree. Tomorrow I leave and will probably only be back at the office one day of the next two months...

... just so you remember why you want to come to Trondheim ;)

Just in case ... in case he dropped the cone again, or in case a Rook tried to mob him up in the tree ... the Nutcracker was working that cone as fast as he could and swallowing each pine nut as soon as he freed it from the cone. After all, it was the Nutcrackers who were chopping each cone...

After a bit, when the Rooks were a little further away, I heard a Nutcracker calling in a tree nearby. Then he flew down to the lawn, grabbed a cone, and flew back up into the tree quick as a flash. No Rook was going to mob him away from this cone!

This wasn't the last I saw of the nutcrackers, but it's the last of my best shots, so I'll spare you the rest. Less boredom, less jealousy, more variation (but with ordinary birds such as Blue Tits and Magpies) ... at least unless and until I get some Spring migrant captures in CA next month, or...