Alternative name: Kashmir Nutcracker
- Nucifraga multipunctata
Identification
32 - 34cm. A distinctive, medium-sized corvid:
- Dark brown plumage with large white spots on entire underparts and rump
- White undertail-coverts and lower belly
- Glossy black upperwing
- Glossy black tail with white feather tips
- Dark brown eye
- Slim black bill and legs
Distribution
From eastern Afghanistan to northern Pakistan and Kasmir, in the western Himalaya and eastern Hindu Kush.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the Eurasian Nutcracker N. caryocatactes.
Habitat
Coniferous and mixed forests, primarily of Blue Pine Pinus wallichiana and Chilgoza Pine Pinus gerardiana, mostly at altitudes of 2000-3000 m (occasionally down to 1000 m and as high as 4000 m).[2]
Behaviour
The diet includes the seeds from Blue Pine and Chilgoza Pine, and to a lesser extent from Morinda Spruce Picea smithiana and and hazel Corylus sp. It also takes insects, birds' eggs and nestlings, digging out bumble bee and wasp nests to take the grubs.
References
- Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
- Rasmussen, PC and JC Anderton. 2005. Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334672
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Large-spotted Nutcracker. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Large-spotted_Nutcracker
