Crows (Corvidae)

Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) - HBW 14, p. 612

French: Cassenoix d'Amérique German: Kiefernhäher Spanish: Cascanueces Americano

Taxonomy: Corvus columbiana A. Wilson, 1811, two miles [3.2 km] north of Kamiah, on Clearwater River, Idaho, USA.
Probably derived from a Siberian form of N. caryocatactes which crossed the Bering land-bridge, perhaps as relatively recently as 1.5-2 million years ago. Monotypic.

Distribution: Rocky Mts, Cascade Mts and isolated ranges of W North America from SW Canada (E slopes of interior British Columbia, S & E through mountains of SW Alberta), S in USA to C & E Washington and Olympic Peninsula, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, W & NE Oregon (likely across the state), N & EC California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado to S California, Arizona and New Mexico; also, in N Mexico, irregularly occurring population in Sierra San Pedro Martír (N Baja California) and isolated population at Cerro Potosí (Nuevo León).