Spotted nutcracker
| Spotted nutcracker | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Corvidae |
| Genus: | Nucifraga |
| Species: | N. caryocatactes |
| Binomial name | |
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Nucifraga caryocatactes (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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The spotted nutcracker, Eurasian nutcracker, or just nutcracker, (Nucifraga caryocatactes) is a passerine bird slightly larger than the Eurasian jay. It has a much larger bill and a slimmer looking head without any crest. The feathering over its body is predominantly a chocolate brown with distinct white spots and streaks. The wings and upper tail are virtually black with a greenish-blue gloss. It is one of three species of nutcracker. The large-spotted nutcracker (Nucifraga multipunctata), was formerly considered a subspecies of spotted. The other member of the genus, Clark's nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), occurs in western North America.
The nutcracker was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae, and it still bears its original name of Nucifraga caryocatactes. The scientific name is a reduplication; Nucifraga is a New Latin translation of German Nussbrecher, "nut-breaker" based on Latin nucis "nut", and frangere, "to shatter", and caryocatactes based on Greek: karuon "nut", and kataseio, "to shatter". The common English name nutcracker first appears in 1693 in a translation of a German travel guide, where it is a calque on the German name Nußknacker, as the bird was not recorded in England until 1753.". Other Germanic languages have etymologically related names: Danish: nøddekrige; Dutch: notenkraker; Norwegian: nøttekråke; Swedish: nötkråka.
There are nine recognised subspecies
The spotted nutcracker is a dark brown, broad-winged, short-tailed corvid. Body plumage is mid to dark chocolate brown, heavily spotted with white on face, neck, mantle and underparts. It has a large white loral spot, a white eye-ring, blackish brown cap extending onto the nape, dark blackish wings with a greenish-blue gloss, all white vent, and dark tail with white corners above and a white terminal band on the undertail. In flight, broad wings, white vent and short tail are noticeable; the flight undulating. The black bill is slender and rather long, sharply pointed, and varies in size amongst races. The iris, legs and feet are black.
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