At this time of year “The Nutcracker” brings to mind Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet, a Christmastime tradition in the U.S.

But in my bird-oriented brain I thought of this bird when I saw “Nutcracker” on a marquee.

Clark’s nutcracker is a member of the Corvid (crow) family that lives in the Rockies and mountainous West. He’s famous for caching nuts for the winter and remembering where all of them are stashed. He was named for William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

I have never seen a Clark’s nutcracker.

Maybe I will in 2015…

(photo by Stephen Pavlov from Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons license.  Click on the image to see the original)