Spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga) [XC381209]
by Teet Sirotkin from Stolowe Mts. National Park, K\u0142odzko County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland (call)
Spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) [XC768715]
by Bas from Lama Monastery, nr Wolong, Sichuan, China (call)
Nest
A compact well-made structure, well lined, almost always in a conifer.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 4; whitish to deep green, with near invisible or dense olive and greyer spots.
Subspecies
Usually treated as conspecific with Nucifraga multipunctata, but striking plumage differences and minor structural differences from latter, which seems to replace it abruptly in north-western Himalayas beyond Pir Panjal Range. Geographical variation rather complex, owing to extensive range and to isolation of several populations. Subspecies fall into two groups, which have in the past been treated as separate species. Southern subspecies, forming "hemispila group" (also with interdicta, macella and owstoni), very weakly spotted overall; isolated owstoni of Taiwan quite distinctive, but clearly resembles others of this group, and seems not to have evolved so far towards speciation as have many other Taiwan endemics. Western and northern subspecies, "nominate group" (with remaining subspecies), encompassing vast range from Norway and France east to Kamchatka and Anadyrland, more heavily marked. Nominate subspecies intergrades with macrorhynchos in Urals, and hemispila intergrades with macella in Darjeeling area of northern India.
Proposed subspecies yunnanensis (from Yunnan, in southern China) considered better synonymized with macella. Within range of "nominate group" are several populations which have been separated racially on basis of minor differences and are best treated as synonyms: thus, in Europe, wolfi (from Balkans) and relicta (from Germany south to Serbia) are included in nominate and, in Asia, kamchatkensis (from Kamchatka), altaicus (from southern Altai) and sassii (from L Baikal region) treated as synonyms of macrorhynchos.
The following 9 subspecies are recognised:
caryocatactes (Linnaeus, 1758) - Europe (southern Fennoscandia south to south-eastern France, northern Italy, Bulgaria and northern Greece, east to Ural Mts).
macrorhynchos Brehm, CL, 1823 - From Urals eastern in Siberia to Anadyrland, Kamchatka and Sakhalin I, south to northern Mongolia, the Altai, Korea and north-eastern China.
japonica Hartert, 1897 - Southern and central Kurils and northern Japan (Hokkaido and Honshu).
rothschildi Hartert, 1903 - Tien Shan from south-eastern Kazakhstan (Dzhungarskiy Alatau) south to central Kyrgystan (Talasskiy Alatau) and extreme north-western China (western Xinjiang).
hemispila Vigors, 1831 - Himalayas from north-eastern Pakistan (Murree) east, south of the Pir Panjal, to Nepal and northern India (Darjeeling). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Southern Nutcracker (Nucifraga hemispila).
macella Thayer & Bangs, 1909 - Eastern Himalayas from eastern Nepal and Sikkim east to north-eastern India (Arunachal Pradesh), northern Myanmar and southern and central China (Qinling Mts of southern Shaanxi and north-western Hubei, south through Sichuan to south-eastern Xizang and Yunnan).
interdicta Kleinschmidt, O & Weigold, 1922 - Eastern China (south-western Liaoning south to Shanxi, northern Hebei and Henan).
owstoni Ingram, W, 1910 - Taiwan.
yunnanensis Ingram, 1910 - South-western China (Yunnan).
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet