Northern Nutcracker vs Southern Nutcracker

Northern Nutcracker

Nucifraga caryocatactes

Medium183 gForest

Northern nutcracker ranges from 32–38 cm in length (from tip of beak to tip of tail) and has a wingspan ranging from 49–53 cm. It 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.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recorded by Grégoire Chauvot · Lavey-Morcles, Aigle District, Vaud, Switzerland · CC0

Photo: Tatiana Strus · CC BY 4.0

Southern Nutcracker

Nucifraga hemispila

Medium183 gForest

The southern nutcracker is similar in size to the northern nutcracker, about 33 cm long. It is largely brown, with limited white spotting on the face and upper breast, plain brown lower breast and back, unmarked black wings, and white lower belly and under-tail coverts; for comparison, both the northern nutcracker and the kashmir nutcracker have extensive and larger white spots on the entire breast and back. The tail is black with white outer corners. The bill is stout and black, the legs also black.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: 夏仲归 · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Northern Nutcracker and Southern Nutcracker.