The Spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes macrorhynchos) is the Siberian subspecies of the nutcracker, told apart from Sweden's resident form chiefly by its longer, narrower and more pointed bill — a subtle difference that often needs a close view or a photograph to confirm. In plumage it matches the nominate nutcracker closely: chocolate brown all over with dense white spotting on the body, dark wings and tail, and white tips to the tail and undertail. It measures around 32–35 cm in length with a wingspan of 49–53 cm. This form is specialised on the seeds of the Siberian pine, which it gathers and caches in large quantities in its home range, and in Sweden during invasions it switches to hazelnuts, seeds, berries and insects. Its call is a hard, creaking, drawn-out "krrrää," repeated from both perched and flying birds.
Unlike ordinary invasion years, this race has held a permanent foothold in Sweden since the late 1970s. After a major influx in 1977, a population of roughly 600 pairs became established along the Norrland coast between Gävle and Haparanda, where it now breeds each year, drawing on stored pine seeds from the previous autumn early in the season. Beyond this resident population, the subspecies still appears irregularly as an invasion bird when pine seed crops fail in Siberia, with major influxes recorded in 1968, 1977, 1985 and again during the 2010s; numbers in these years range from none at all to many thousands, and birds can linger through winter and into spring, turning up in conifer forest, parks and gardens across much of the country. The species overall is classified as Least Concern.
Read about this species in Swedish →