Like other corvids, Clark’s nutcrackers are intelligent, long-lived and social compared to other birds. They mate for life and eat a variety of foods including seeds, insects, berries and carrion.

Although they are usually found in high elevations with Whitebark pines, Clark’s nutcrackers periodically fly to lower areas to harvest Ponderosa pine seeds. They can often be spotted at Sleeping Lady Mountain Retreat, eating seeds at the tops of the trees or on the ground. These birds use their foot to hold the pinecone, then pry open the scales with their bill to get at the seeds. Unique among birds, they show a tendency to be right-footed or left-footed.

Clark’s nutcrackers gather pine seeds to store for the winter. They cache up to 30,000 seeds each fall, and remember the location of the majority of the caches. Because they are unable to locate some of the storage piles, they are a major seed disperser for pine trees.