Siberian Nutcracker
After three decades of abscence, the Slender‑billed (Siberian) Nutcracker is back in western Norway. This autumn marks the first proper invasion since the mid 1990s.
RARE BIRDS
10/22/20262 min read
The Slender-billed or Siberian Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes macrorhynchos) is an eastern subspecies of the Eurasian (Northern) Nutcracker, known for its irregular westward irruptions when cone crops fail east of Fennoscandia. Over the past century Norway has experienced several notable invasions, including the major influxes of 1968 and 1995. In Vestland county the breeding birds belong to the western subspecies caryocatactes, and eastern birds are typically recorded only during these large-scale movements. The individual featured in this post was photographed at Hatten, Øygarden on 20 October 2026.
Local birder Roald Hatten, who lives close to where the nutcracker was discovered, began placing out hazelnut kernels as soon as the bird was found. It did not take long before the Siberian Nutcracker realised this was an excellent food source, and it has returned to the same spot for more than a week, much to the delight of visiting birders.
A satisfied Nutcracker with a cracked nut.
Identifying Siberian Nutcrackers in western Norway is challenging, as the two subspecies overlap in plumage and measurements. The most reliable characters involve bill morphology and tail pattern. Siberian birds show a longer, and slimmer bill, while the western subspecies often appears deeper-based and is more conical. In flight, details on the tail is important. Siberian Nutcrackers typically display a broader white terminal band than western birds. These differences are subtle and overlapping, and confident identification usually requires high-quality photographs, or measurements from trapped and ringed birds.
The confiding behaviour of this bird and macrorhynchos in general contrasts with local breeding birds. They are far more wary. Usually seen as fly-by's at a distance or heared calling from dense woodland.
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