• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note

Nucifraga caryocatactes, N. hemispila and N. multipunctata (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) were previously lumped as N. caryocatactes following AERC TAC (2003), Cramp et al. (1977-1994) and Sibley & Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	high
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	37,400,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	2980000-6100000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2018
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.76 years	-	-	-

Population justification: In Europe, the total population size is estimated at 596,000-1,220,000 mature individuals, with 298,000-608,000 breeding pairs (BirdLife International 2021), and comprises approximately 20% of the species' global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is between 2,980,000-6,100,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is desirable. In Europe, the species' population is considered to have remained relatively stable over three generations (14.28 years) (BirdLife International 2021). This species is considered to have a high dependency on forest habitat, which is estimated to be declining at a rate of 7.4% over three generations within its mapped range (Global Forest Watch 2024). It is therefore tentatively suspected that this rate of cover loss may have led to a decline of between 1-19% in the species' population size over the same time frame, with a best estimate of reduction being 5-9%. Based on these data, the global population trend is considered to be declining.

Trend justification:    .

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	native	yes
Albania	extant	native		yes
Austria	extant	native	yes
Belarus	extant	native	yes
Belgium	extant	native	yes
Bhutan	extant	native		yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Czechia	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	native			yes	yes
Estonia	extant	native	yes
Finland	extant	native	yes			yes
France	extant	native	yes
Germany	extant	native	yes
Greece	extant	native	yes
Hungary	extant	native			yes
India	extant	native		yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	vagrant			yes
Italy	extant	native	yes
Japan	extant	native		yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native		yes
Latvia	extant	native	yes
Liechtenstein	extant	native	yes
Lithuania	extant	native	yes
Luxembourg	extant	vagrant			yes
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Nepal	extant	native		yes
Netherlands	extant	native			yes
North Korea	extant	native		yes
North Macedonia	extant	native	yes
Norway	extant	native		yes
Pakistan	extant	native		yes
Poland	extant	native		yes
Portugal	extant	vagrant			yes
Romania	extant	native	yes
Russia	extant	native	yes	yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native	yes
Russia (European)	extant	native	yes
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Slovakia	extant	native	yes
Slovenia	extant	native	yes
South Korea	extant	native		yes
Spain	extant	native			yes
Sweden	extant	native	yes
Switzerland	extant	native	yes
Syria	extant	vagrant			yes
Türkiye	extant	vagrant			yes
Ukraine	extant	native	yes
United Kingdom	extant	vagrant			yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	marginal	non-breeding
Forest	Boreal	major	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	suitable	resident
Forest	Temperate	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 4000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Northern Nutcracker Nucifraga caryocatactes. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/northern-nutcracker-nucifraga-caryocatactes on 23/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/11/2024.