Editing Nutcracker (bird) (section)

== Extant species ==
Following reappraisal of species limits in the genus in Asia, the genus is now treated as containing four species:<ref name="Raad">{{cite journal  |display-authors=et al |last1=de Raad |first1=J. |title=Speciation and population divergence in a mutualistic seed dispersing bird |journal=Communications Biology |date=2022 |volume=5 |issue=429 |pages=1–10 |doi=10.1038/s42003-022-03364-2 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-022-03364-2 |access-date=15 October 2024|pmc=9085801 }}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Crows, mudnesters, birds-of-paradise | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/crows/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=17 September 2024 }}</ref> This follows the split of Southern and Kashmir nutcrackers from a former broad view (e.g. Voous, 1977<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Voous |first1=Karel |title=List of Recent Holarctic Bird Species |journal=Ibis |date=1977 |volume=119 |page=383}}</ref>) of all Eurasian nutcrackers as being a single species.

{{Species table |genus=Nucifraga |authority-name= [[Mathurin Jacques Brisson|Brisson]]|authority-year= 1760 |species-count=four|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row
|name=[[Clark's nutcracker]] |binomial=[[Nucifraga columbiana]]
|image=File:Clark's Nutcracker - Nucifraga columbiana.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Wilson |authority-year= 1811|authority-not-original=yes
|range= Western [[North America]]
|range-image=File:Nucifraga columbiana map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}

{{Species table/row
|name=[[Northern nutcracker]] |binomial=[[Nucifraga caryocatactes]]
|image=File:Nucifraga caryocatactes perched Kunice 4.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Linnaeus|authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=yes
|range= Central and northeastern [[Europe]] across northern Asia east to northeast Japan
|range-image=File:Map of distribution of Nucifraga caryocatactes.png
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Four subspecies |bullets=on
| ''N. c. caryocatactes'' ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758) 
| ''N. c. macrorhynchos'' [[Christian Ludwig Brehm|C. L. Brehm]], 1823 
| ''N. c. rothschildi'' [[Ernst Hartert|E. J. O. Hartert]], 1903 
| ''N. c. japonica'' E. J. O. Hartert, 1897
}}
}}

{{Species table/row
|name=[[Southern nutcracker]] |binomial=[[Nucifraga hemispila]]
|image=File:9030玉山國家公園星鴉.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Vigors |authority-year=1831 |authority-not-original=
|range=Himalayas to north China and Taiwan
|range-image=File:Map of distribution of Nucifraga hemispila.png
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Four subspecies |bullets=on
| ''N. h. hemispila'' [[Nicholas Aylward Vigors|Vigors]], 1831 
| ''N. h. macella'' [[John Thayer (ornithologist)|Thayer]] & [[Outram Bangs|Bangs]], 1909 
| ''N. h. interdicta'' [[Otto Kleinschmidt|Kleinschmidt]] & [[Hugo Weigold|Weigold]], 1922 
| ''N. h. owstoni'' [[Collingwood Ingram|Ingram, C]], 1910
}}
}}

{{Species table/row
|name= [[Kashmir nutcracker]] |binomial=[[Nucifraga multipunctata]]
|image=File:Large-spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga multipunctata) (52606512253).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Gould|authority-year= 1849 |authority-not-original=
|range= Western [[Himalayas]]
|range-image=File:Map of distribution of Nucifraga multipunctata.png
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}

{{Species table/end}}

The most vital food resources for these species are the seeds ([[pine nut]]s) of various [[pine]]s (''Pinus'' sp.), principally the cold-climate (far northern or high altitude) species of [[Pinus classification|white pine]] (''Pinus'' subgenus ''Strobus'') with large seeds: ''P. albicaulis, P. armandii, P. cembra, P. flexilis, P. koraiensis, P. parviflora, P. peuce, P. pumila, P. sibirica'' and ''P. wallichiana'', and also the [[pinyon pine|pinyon]] and [[lacebark pine]]s. In some regions, where none of these pines occur, the seeds of [[spruce]] (''Picea'' sp.) and [[hazel]] (''Corylus'' sp.) nuts form a vital part of the diet too. Their bills are specialized tools for extracting seeds from pine cones.<ref name=Lanner>{{cite book |last1=Lanner |first1=Ronald M. |title=Made for each other: A symbiosis of birds and pines |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-508-903-0}}</ref>

Surplus seed is always stored for later use, and it is this genus that is responsible for the re-establishment of their favoured pines over large areas either burnt in [[forest fire]]s or cleared by man. One nutcracker can store as many as 98,000 pine nuts in a single season, and remembering the location of 75% to over 90% of their stash, even when buried in snow more than a metre deep.<ref name=Lanner/> The memory is also retained for 7–8 months, enabling them to feed their young on seed stored the previous autumn.<ref name=Lanner/><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jmqk1 "Yellowstone" BBC2, episode 3"]</ref> Nutcrackers will cache seeds as far as {{convert|32|km|mi}} away from parent plants, about eight times further than related dispersers like [[jay]]s and [[crow]]s, and are thus important in re-establishing forests and responding to climate change.<ref name=Lanner/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Tomback |first1=Diana F. |author-link=Diana Tomback|editor1-last=Sekercioglu |editor1-first=Cagan |editor2-last=Wenny |editor2-first=Daniel G. |editor3-last=Whelan |editor3-first=Christopher J. |title=Why birds matter: avian ecological function and ecosystem services |date=2016 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=022638263X |page=201 |chapter=7}}</ref>

Various [[insect]]s are also taken, including [[bee]] and [[wasp]] [[larva]]e, and birds' eggs and nestlings, and carrion if it is found.

Nesting is always early in this genus, so as to make the best use of pine nuts stored the previous autumn. The nest is usually built high in a conifer. There are normally 2–4 eggs laid and incubated for 18 days. Both genders feed the young which are usually fledged by about 23 days and stay with their parents for many months, following them to learn food storage techniques.

None of the species are [[bird migration|migratory]], but they will leave their usual ranges if a cone crop failure causes a food shortage.