Clark's Nutcracker

Clark's nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), sometimes referred to as Clark's crow or woodpecker crow, is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to the mountains of western North America. The nutcracker is an omnivore, but subsists mainly on pine nuts, burying seeds in the ground in the summer and then retrieving them in the winter by memory. Etymology and history The bird was described by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, with William Clark first observing it in 1805 along the banks of the Salmon River, a tributary of the Columbia River. Its scientific name literally means "nutcracker of the Columbia." Lewis recorded a more detailed description in 1806. A skin collected by the expedition was obtained by the ornithologist Alexander Wilson, who used it to produce an engraving for his monumental American Ornithology. Taxonomy Originally placed in the genus Corvus by Lewis, Clark's nutcracker was later included in Nucifraga by Wilson, which also includes two Old World species with similar lifestyles and habitats. Distribution and habitat This species is present in western North America from British Columbia and western Alberta in the north to Baja California and central New Mexico in the south. There is also a small isolated population on the peak of Cerro Potosí, elevation 3,700 metres (12,200 ft), in Nuevo León, northeast Mexico. It is mainly found in mountains at altitudes of 900–3,900 metres (3,000–12,900 ft) in conifer forest. It is not migratory except in the sense of moving back and forth locally between areas of higher and lower elevation. Outside the breeding season, it may wander extensively to lower altitudes and also further east as far as Illinois (and exceptionally, Pennsylvania), particularly following any cone crop failure in its normal areas.