Inhabits North Coast Ranges in northwestern California, and the Klamath, Sierra Nevada, and portions of the Warner, White, and Tehachapi Mts. Winter diet sometimes exclusively needles and buds.
Chicks feed largely on arthropods.
Plucks vegetation, gleans seeds and arthropods from foliage and ground. Territorial male associated closely with fir and Douglas-fir. Seldom found far from water. Yearlong, diurnal activity. May move upslope and downslope with seasons.