Northern Nutcrackers

We’re on a Bulgarian ski-slope armed with peanuts. We’re on the trail of the Northern Nutcracker, with the aim of giving them an easy life: nuts without the crack.

I’m hoping we won’t be crushed by the machinery they seem to use to comb the snow into gently rutted mounds. I’ve slipped crampons onto my walking books which is the only reason I’m still upright. I’ve never been skiing or on a ski slop before so it’s all new to me.

There are people making their way back up the slope which may well disturb us. We lace the slope with nuts and retreat to take our positions with long lenses. It doesn’t take long before we’re awash with Nutcrackers. They are spectacular brown crows with beautiful white spots and long black beaks. They squabble as if it’s their way of life. There’s clearly a pecking order and they need to reinforce it.

They are not eating any of the peanuts which we have left for them, but storing them all in a pouch under their tongue and heading off to cache it for later. Hiding and storing food is a great way to survive a barren winter of harsh weather and scarce food. The birds which became skilled at making use of the spare food clearly have had much greater success in breeding over the years in which the species has evolved. Now they can’t help the behaviour, so I do worry that we are causing them harm by constantly triggering their cache response. Not as much harm as these two are causing to each other.