One of many species 'discovered' (aka first described in English) by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, these beautiful birds are found across western North America at elevations between 3000' and 12,000'. They do not migrate, but change elevation with the seasons.

Although Clark's nutcrackers are omnivorous, the bulk of their diet consists of pine nuts. Each bird buries tens of thousands of seeds in the fall, and can accurately recover them even nine months later and when buried under feet of snow. Studies show that nutcrackers are better at remembering cache locations than any other animal, including humans.

Fortunately for the endangered whitebark pine, nutcrackers usually cache more food than they need. Unclaimed caches are the main way these trees reproduce. Whitebark pines could not survive without the long beak of the Clark's nutcracker because their seed cones do not open naturally. It's a remarkable example of mutualistic co-evolution where the pines both feed and depend on the nutcrackers, who in return behave in a way that grows more of their favorite food.

The Clark's nutcracker is currently classified a species of least concern, but may soon have to adapt its diet if the whitebark pine succumbs to the twin threats of blister rust and pine beetle.