Clark's Nutcracker - Nucifraga columbiana
General Description
Clark's Nutcracker is a jay-sized corvid that is crowlike in build and flight, with moderate sexual size dimorphism. Total length of adults 27.0 - 30.1 cm. Mass 106 - 161 g. Males slightly larger than females. Sexes similar in appearance. Light to medium gray, with varying amounts of white around eyes, on forehead, and on chin; white around vent and at base of tail; wings and tail glossy black; secondaries broadly tipped with white forming a white patch; outer rectrices white. Folded wings nearly reach tip of tail. Long, pointed, black bill with short nasal bristles. Distinctive grating call audible at great distance. (Tomback, Diana F. The Birds of North America, No. 331, 1998).
Distribution
Montana Range
Observations in Montana: 4751
Montana CountiesBeaverhead, Big Horn, Blaine, Broadwater, Carbon, Carter, Cascade, Chouteau, Custer, Deer Lodge, Fergus, Flathead, Gallatin, Garfield, Glacier, Golden Valley, Granite, Hill, Jefferson, Judith Basin, Lake, Lewis and Clark, Liberty, Lincoln, Madison, Meagher, Mineral, Missoula, Musselshell, Park, Petroleum, Phillips, Pondera, Powder River, Powell, Ravalli, Rosebud, Sanders, Silver Bow, Stillwater, Sweet Grass, Teton, Toole, Valley, Wheatland, Yellowstone
Habitat
In west-central Montana, they are found in close association with ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, and white-bark pine (Mewaldt 1948).
Food Habits
Its year-round diet consists primarily of fresh and stored pine seeds (Tomback 1998).
Ecology
One territory was 2.1 acres (Mewaldt 1948).
Reproductive Characteristics
Nests occur in Douglas fir or ponderosa pine, 6 to 80 feet above ground. Eggs are deposited mid-March and the young fledge from late April to early May (Davis 1961, Mewaldt 1948).