Measurements
Both Sexes
- Length
- 10.6–11.8 in
27–30 cm - Weight
- 3.7–5.7 oz
106–161 g
Other Names
- Cassenoix d'Amérique (French)
- Cascanueces Americano (Spanish)
Cool Facts
- The Clark's Nutcracker has a special pouch under its tongue that it uses to carry seeds long distances. The nutcracker harvests seeds from pine trees and takes them away to hide them for later use.
- The Clark's Nutcracker hides thousands and thousands of seeds each year. Laboratory studies have shown that the bird has a tremendous memory and can remember where to find most of the seeds it hides.
- The Clark's Nutcracker feeds its nestlings pine seeds from its many winter stores (caches). Because it feeds the young on stored seeds, the nutcracker can breed as early as January or February, despite the harsh winter weather in its mountain home.
- The Clark's Nutcracker is one of very few members of the crow family where the male incubates the eggs. In jays and crows, taking care of the eggs is for the female only. But the male nutcracker actually develops a brood patch on its chest just like the female, and takes his turn keeping the eggs warm while the female goes off to get seeds out of her caches.
Habitat
Forest
Clark’s Nutcrackers live in the mountainous areas of the Western United States and Canada. They tend to inhabit stands of large-seeded pines and other areas of coniferous forest, including trees such as whitebark pine, pinyon pine, Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, and juniper.
Food
Omnivore
Clark’s Nutcrackers feed mostly on fresh and stored pine seeds (though they may also eat insects, small animals, or carrion). They stand on ripe or unripe pine cones and use their long, sharp bills to extract the seeds inside. During the fall, they store these seeds in caches, buried in forest litter or hidden in the cracks of trees, to eat during the winter season. They carry the pine seeds to storage by means of a special pouch under their tongues that can carry up to 150 seeds at a time. Nutcrackers have excellent spatial memory, and they are able to relocate thousands of these caches, months after having stored them.
Nesting
Nesting Facts
- Clutch Size
- 2–5 eggs
- Egg Description
- Pale green lightly spotted with olive or brown
Nest Description
Both male and female Clark’s Nutcrackers gather nest materials. Females do the construction while males keep lookout. Females first weave a platform of twigs together to form the outer bowl of the nest. The inside is then lined with dried grasses, inner bark, and a layer of soil. The thick walls insulate the nest against cold. When completed, the outside of the nest is 8–13 inches in diameter, while the nest cup is 5–8 inches in diameter and 2.5–3.5 inches deep.
Nest Placement
Tree
Clark’s Nutcrackers build nests in small stands of trees or shrubs. They typically choose nest sites in the forks of outer branches, 6-18 feet above the ground. These locales are usually out of the wind and near pine seed caches that the nutcrackers made the previous fall.
Behavior
Foliage Gleaner
Clark’s Nutcrackers are rarely solitary birds. They are apparently monogamous, and live in pairs even when it’s not breeding season. They roost in family groups or loose assemblies. There is frequent physical interaction, since one nutcracker will readily attempt to take over the job and food of a bird that is harvesting or retrieving seeds from a cache.
Conservation
Least Concern
Populations fluctuate, but may be increasing in some areas. Declining pine species in some areas may lead to reduction in nutcracker numbers.
Credits
- Tomback, D. F. 1998. Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana). In The Birds of North America, No. 331 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.