Clark’s Nutcracker is a pale gray relative of the crows and jays that lives near timberline on Mt. Hood. You often hear it first, a harsh, grating call from the top of a conifer. In flight it flashes black wings with white patches and a white tail with a black center.
Its life revolves around pine seeds. In late summer and fall a nutcracker pries seeds from cones with its long, sharp bill, packs dozens into a stretchy pouch under its tongue, and flies off to bury them a few at a time in the soil, sometimes miles away. One bird can store 30,000 seeds or more in a season, then dig them up through winter to feed itself and its young. Nesting starts remarkably early, often while snow still covers the ground.
Seeds that are never recovered can sprout, which makes the nutcracker the main planter of whitebark pine, a high-elevation tree whose cones do not open on their own. Whitebark pine has declined across the West from white pine blister rust, mountain pine beetles, changing fire patterns and a warming climate, and when its seed crops fail, nutcrackers move elsewhere. Mt. Hood holds the lowest natural whitebark pine stand on record, near Government Camp.
At picnic areas and viewpoints, nutcrackers can get bold and look for handouts. Keeping human food to yourself helps keep them on their natural diet.
How to identify it
About 12 to 14 inches long, pale gray with black wings and a long, sharp black bill. In flight, look for white patches on the trailing edge of the wings and a mostly white tail with black central feathers. Calls are loud, harsh and grating.
Look-alikes
The Canada Jay is a similar size and also mostly gray, but it has a dark head and a short bill, and it lacks the nutcracker's flashy black-and-white wings and tail.
Habitat
High mountain conifer forests near timberline, especially where pines grow. It moves above treeline in summer and into lower forests in fall. Around Mt. Hood, look in subalpine forest and at high trailheads and viewpoints, especially in summer and fall.
Sightings in the forest
116 research-grade sightings in Mt. Hood National Forest on iNaturalist, most recently on October 20, 2026. See them on iNaturalist →