Clark's Nutcracker

Nucifraga columbianaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Crows and Jays (Corvidae)

General

Clark's Nutcracker: Medium-sized, noisy and inquisitive jay with pale gray head and body. Bill is long and stout. Wings are black with white patches and tail is black with white edges. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Clark's Nutcracker: Resident in southern British Columbia and Alberta south California and Colorado; prefers stands of junipers and ponderosa pines on high mountain ranges near the tree line.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"caw", "kra-a-a"

Interesting Facts

The Clark’s Nutcracker has a special pouch under its tongue in which it carries pine seeds long distances to cache them. Depending upon the species of pine seed, this pouch will hold from 28 and 90 seeds.

Unusual among members of the crow family, males of this species help the females incubate the eggs. In fact the males have brood pouches just like the females. Nestlings are fed pine seeds from the parents’ caches. This allows the adults to breed as early as January or February despite the harsh winter weather in their range.

This bird was first observed in 1805 by William Clark (Lewis and Clark expedition) and bears his name.

A group of nutcrackers has many collective nouns, including a "ballet", "booby", "jar", and "suite" of nutcrackers.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Clark's Nutcracker

Clark's Nutcracker: Medium, noisy and inquisitive jay with pale gray head and body. Black bill is long and stout. Wings are black with white patches and tail is black with white edges. Feeds on nuts, insects, eggs and young of other birds, lizards, carrion and small mammals. Steady deep wing beats.

● Song: "caw", "kra-a-a"

● Foraging & Feeding: Clark's Nutcracker: Feeds mostly on conifer seeds; also take flying insects, ants, small vertebrates, bird eggs and nestlings, and occasionally carrion. Uses its sturdy, pointed bill to pry seeds out of green cones, or to hammer and crush seeds out of shells.

● Breeding & nesting: Clark's Nutcracker: Two to six pale green or olive eggs, marked with brown, olive or gray, are laid in a deep bowl nest made of sticks built in a conifer. Nest is well insulated, with outer part built from rotten wood pulp and inner bowl lined with finer material. Incubation ranges from 16 to 18 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Clark's Nutcracker: Gray Jay is slimmer, lacks white on wings, and has gray tail.

Flight Pattern

Slow steady deep delierate wing beats., Crowlike flight.

● Range & Habitat: Clark's Nutcracker: Resident in southern British Columbia and Alberta south California and Colorado; prefers stands of junipers and ponderosa pines on high mountain ranges near the tree line.

^BreedingMonogamous, Colonial

^Population

^MigrationNonmigratory

^Weight5 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America