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Spotted Nutcracker
last update: Mar 24, 2009 03:22 PM
Latin name: Nucifraga caryocatactes
Population: 800,000-1,700,000 individuals
Cites classified: Least Concern
Where found: North Eurasia from Scandinavia across Russia to Japan
Age/ life expectancy: 16 years
Wingspan: 50-55 cm
Length: 32-35 cm
Weight: 100-180 g
Mating/Breeding: Nesting is always early in this species across its whole range, so as to make the best use of pine nuts stored the previous autumn. The nest is usually built high in a conifer (sometimes broadleaved trees are used) and usually on the sunny side. There are normally 3-4 eggs laid and incubated for 18 days. Both sexes feed the young which are usually fledged by about 23 days and stay with their parents for many months, following them to learn the food storage techniques essential for survival in their harsh environment.
Eggs: 3-4 white or pale green eggs with dark brown spots
Hibernation: winters in same area as breeding area
Hunting Habits: forages and stores excess seed for later use in winter
Feed on: pine nuts, spruce seeds, and hazel nuts as well as various insects, birds’ eggs and nestlings, and bait from traps
Colour/Body: The Spotted Nutcracker is a dark brown, broad-winged, short-tailed corvid. Body plumage is mid to dark chocolate brown, heavily spotted with white on face, neck, mantle and underparts. It has a large white loral spot, a white eye-ring, blackish brown cap extending onto the nape, dark blackish wings with a greenish-blue gloss, all white vent, and dark tail with white corners above and a white terminal band on the undertail. In flight, broad wings, white vent and short tail are noticeable; the flight undulating. The black bill is slender and rather long, sharply pointed, and varies in size amonst races. The iris, legs and feet are black.
Subspecies: N. c. caryocatactes: Scandinavia to north and east Europe, Caucasus and north Kazakhstan, winters to south Russia; N. c. macrorhynchos: north and northeast Asia irruptions to north Iran, Korea and north China; N. c. rothschildi: Tian Shan and Dzungarian Alatau mountains, Kazakstan and China; N. c. japonica: central and south Kuril Islands, Hokkaido, Honshu and Hondo, Japan; N. c. owstoni: Taiwan; N. c. interdicta mountains of north China (Liaoning); N. c. multipunctata: Pakistan and northwest India; N. c. hemispila: Himalayas (west Nepal to south Kashmir); N. c. macella: east Himalayas to south Tibet, west Nepal, north Myanmar and southwest China; N. c. yunnanensis: southeast China (Yunnan).
