Owen and I responded about as fast as humanly possible today and were out at the MU Ranch by 3:45pm. Herb Elliot showed up about 25 minutes later. Very quiet and no Nutcrackers. There are about 9 pine trees, but the cone crop wasn't extensive (some trees had very few cones, many cones were still closed, or really old) and no water that we could see. The three of us did an extensive search of the ranch's trees. There didn't seem to be enough to hold these birds for very long. My guess is that this was a lunch drive-thru and that they're up higher in the nearby mtns. I hope I'm wrong, and I hope more show up and stick around. Maybe the pines at the school off 58? Maybe East Cuesta?
