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Clark's Nutcracker

Clark's Nutcracker

Nucifraga columbiana

Audubon Illustration

Audubon illustration of Clark's Nutcracker

John James Audubon, Birds of America (1827-1838). Public domain.

Range & Recent Observations

Clark's Nutcrackeris a year-round resident and doesn't follow a migration flyway. See the Range tab for where it lives.

Last Spotted Near You

View on eBirdWikipedia

About the Clark's Nutcracker

Clark's nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), also known as Clark's 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. 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.

Source: Wikipedia

Classification

Scientific name
Nucifraga columbiana
Family
Crows, Jays, and Magpies
Order
Passeriformes

Similar species

Other members of the crows, jays, and magpies family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.

  • American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
  • Azure-hooded Jay Cyanolyca cucullata
  • Azure-winged Magpie Cyanopica cyanus
  • Black-billed Magpie Pica hudsonia
  • Black-throated Jay Cyanolyca pumilo
  • Black-throated Magpie-Jay Cyanocorax colliei
  • Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata
  • Brown Jay Cyanocorax morio
  • California Scrub-Jay Aphelocoma californica
  • Canada Jay Perisoreus canadensis
  • Chihuahuan Raven Corvus cryptoleucus
  • Common Raven Corvus corax

Know when the Clark's Nutcracker turns up near you

Add it to your watchlist and draw an alert zone around the places you actually bird. Birdr checks eBird reports and tells you when one is seen inside it.

How rare bird alerts work →

Gear for spotting Clark's Nutcracker

Optics

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