Species: Nucifraga columbiana
Clark's Nutcracker
Species
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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Corvidae
Genus
Nucifraga
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Cascanueces Americano - Cassenoix d'Amérique
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Corvidae - Nucifraga
Ecology and Life History
Migration
true - false - false - Wanders irregularly beyond normal range in winter. Also wanders irregularly to low country during winter.
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Pine seeds are primary food for both adults and nestlings. Also eats insects, acorns, berries, snails, carrion; sometimes eats eggs and young of small birds. Nearly all winter food and much of breeding season food derived from pine seeds collected and stored in fall (Vander Wall 1988).
Reproduction Comments
Clutch size is 2-6 (usually 2-3). Incubation, by both sexes, lasts 17-18 days. Young leave nest 24-28 days after hatching.
Ecology Comments
May travel in large flocks (25-100 birds) (Terres 1980). Dixon (1934) reported foraging 0.8 to 2.4 km from nest, and Tomback (1998) reported a summer home range of 1500 hectares (roughly 4.4. kilometers in diameter). Year-round home ranges are much larger: 15,000 hectares in areas of good food (Tomback 1998).
Length
31
Weight
141
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-12-02
Global Status Last Changed
1996-12-02
Other Status
LC - Least concern
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=S4&CA.BC=S5&US.AZ=S5&US.CA=SNR&US.CO=S5&US.ID=S5&US.MT=S3&US.NN=S4&US.NE=__&US.NV=S5&US.NM=S4&US.OR=S4&US.SD=S2&US.UT=S4&US.WA=S4&US.WY=S5" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
RESIDENT: central British Columbia, southwestern Alberta, western and central Montana, western and southeastern Wyoming south through mountains of central Washington, eastern Oregon, central and eastern California and Nevada to northern Baja California; in Rockies to east-central Arizona and southern New Mexico. WANDERS: irregularly beyond normal range.