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And now, "montane" is added to my vocabulary. And until today, I had not put together any familial link between crows and blue jays, but man does it make sense!

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After the big wildfires in the Bitterroot Valley in 2000, Clark's Nutcrackers were already busy caching (planting) seeds as the ground still smoldered. The same happened in an area of a prescribed burn that I often hike through--dozens of nutcrackers hiding their seeds, planting the next generation of pines. I love to stand under the canopy of a pine forest with nutcrackers and crossbills opening cones above me, the empty wings of the seeds raining softly down on my head.

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The sound of the Clark’s Nutcracker brings me instantly to the forested mountainsides of the Rocky Mountains! And I am in awe of their ability to find, with great success, their thousands of seed caches! What an amazing bird! With an incredible brain! I loved this piece and laughed out loud at your description of misplacing your wallet, etc over the years. I remember that Guatemala incident well! 💜🐦

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