The Birds of Lewis and Clark

The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806) was the first time that European-Americans went bird watching in the American west. The expedition discovered several species new to science, and the explorers’ journals provide us with a glimpse of Oregon’s bird life in the early 19th Century. (Lewis and Clark were the first to describe California Condors along the Columbia River.)

by John Rakestraw

Two species of birds were named after Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, and can still be seen in Oregon today. 

Clark’s Nutcracker is a familiar bird to those who hike or camp in the mountains. These are large gray jays with black and white wings and tails. While they frequent campsites and parking lots, looking for handouts, their natural food is seeds from pine trees. The birds use their long bills to pry the seeds out of the cones, and then bury the seeds for later use. Some species of pine are totally dependent on the nutcrackers to distribute their seeds, making the birds an important link in forest regeneration. Clark’s Nutcrackers are found at higher elevations in the Cascade, Blue, and Wallowa Mountains. In winter, the birds sometimes come down to lower elevations, and occasionally to the valley floors. (Photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service)

  Lewis’s Wood- pecker differs from other woodpecker species in both behavior and plumage. In summer, this woodpecker spends most of its time catching insects on the wing. In winter, they eat acorns and other nuts, which they store in crevices in trees and utility poles. They do very little excavating, usually relying on holes made by other woodpeckers for nesting. Lewis’s Woodpeckers are solid greenish-black, with a gray collar and red on their face and belly. They used to nest in the Willamette Valley, but are no longer found here. They are most easily found in the oak savannah habitat east of Mt. Hood, and in recently burned forests.  (Photo from Cornell Lab of Ornithology)