Clark's Nutcracker
The periodic irruptions of Clark's Nutcrackers, which may bring the birds all the way to the Pacific Coast, are related to failures of the pine nut crop. Near camps and picnic sites this erratic winter wanderer begs and steals food scraps. It can hold several nuts in a special cheek pouch under the tongue in addition to those it holds in the beak.

The Clark's Nutcracker is a pigeon-sized bird with a flashing black, white and gray pattern. It is light gray, with a dark eye and a long, sharply pointed bill. It has a black wing with a large white wing patch at the trailing edge and a black tail with white outer tail feathers. The face is white from forehead to chin and its belly is white. The Clark's Nutcracker's call is a guttural kraaaa.

The Clark's Nutcracker forages on the ground and in trees, primarily on the seeds of conifers and on insects. It also eats the seeds of lupine, oats, grains, berries, small mammals, eggs and nestlings of birds as well as carrion. The Clark's Nutcracker nests between 6,000 and 8,000 feet in elevation in a wind-sheltered site and builds its nest in a conifer, well out on a branch or in a bushy top from 7 to 150 feet above the ground.

The Clark's Nutcracker is a year-round resident in southern British Columbia and Alberta south throughout the pine-clad western mountains to California and Colorado. It prefers stands of juniper and ponderosa pine or whitebark pine and larch on high mountain ranges near the tree line.
Clark's Nutcracker Range Map

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