Incubating females are fed pinyon and ponderosa pine seeds by their mates. Engelmann spruce, aspen, blue spruce, oak, pinyon pine, and juniper. Ponderosa pine seeds are also an important food for the pinyon jay. In late fall, juniper berries and pinyon nuts were gathered. The gray oak woodlands are found in slightly moister soils than the pinyon woodlands. Mule deer are present in the pinyon/juniper associations of the Grapevine, Cottonwood, and Panamint ranges. It may consist of pure stands of pinyon pine, or pure stands of juniper. During migrations to lower altitudes, it also extensively uses the seeds of pinyon pines. Common daytime animals include mule deer, rock squirrels, pinyon jays, and whiptail and collared lizards. In 1878, naturalist John Muir described the Indian method of harvesting pinyon seeds in Nevada. An average worker can collect about of unshelled pinyon seed in a day's work. The seeds of the Colorado pinyon and singleleaf pinyon are very nutritious. They interact in a mutual relationship with the pinyon. It is most closely related to the Colorado pinyon, which hybridises with it (both subsps. Higher elevations host Western juniper and Pinyon pine.