In the spotlight: Nutcracker
The Spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) is a striking member of the crow family that is usually difficult to find in our region, roughly the size of a jay, with dark chocolate-brown plumage covered in conspicuous white teardrop-shaped spots, a black-and-white tail and a strong, elongated bill used to extract and open seeds and nuts; its normal range stretches from the mountain forests of Central Europe through Scandinavia and far into Russia and Siberia, and two forms are particularly relevant in our part of Europe, namely the Central European thick-billed nutcracker and the eastern or Siberian slender-billed nutcracker, the latter having on average a longer and narrower bill and being the form most likely to travel very long distances westward during major invasion years. In Belgium, the Spotted Nutcracker is not merely a rare irruptive visitor, because the Central European form also breeds in the Ardennes, whereas in the Netherlands the species is normally extremely scarce and is mainly seen during exceptional influxes.
Its name immediately reveals its main speciality, because nutcrackers are true experts at collecting, transporting and hiding energy-rich food, especially the seeds of various pine species and, depending on the region, hazelnuts as well; in late summer and autumn they gather enormous quantities of seeds, often carrying them in a specialised sublingual pouch before hiding them in countless different places in the soil, between roots or under moss, after which they are able to relocate a remarkably high proportion of those food caches months later, even when they are covered by snow, which points to an exceptional spatial memory. Because some of those hidden seeds are never recovered, the Spotted Nutcracker also acts as an accidental forester, spreading seeds over considerable distances and thereby helping conifer forests regenerate, while its ability to remember thousands of individual food stores is regarded as one of the most impressive examples of memory in the bird world.
The species is particularly interesting in the autumn of 2026, because a very noticeable westward movement has developed from northern and eastern Europe and could become one of the largest invasions in our region for many years, with more than 1,500 migrating nutcrackers counted in some parts of Poland within barely a single week in late September, large numbers moving through Finland and an increasing number of birds appearing in the Netherlands by early October; Vogelbescherming Nederland had already reported around thirty individuals by 9 October, which is exceptional for a species that is normally so rare there, while Sovon expects that more may follow in the coming weeks and recent observations suggest that the movement is continuing through Scandinavia, Denmark and Germany towards the Netherlands and Belgium. The main driving force behind such invasions is food shortage in the normal range, particularly when seed production by Siberian and northern pines fails after previous food-rich years have first allowed the population to increase, forcing thousands of birds to travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometres westward, so there are strong indications that the Netherlands and Belgium may receive far more Spotted Nutcrackers than usual this autumn, even though it is still uncertain whether numbers will eventually reach the scale of a truly historic mass invasion.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of such an influx is that arriving Siberian slender-billed nutcrackers are often surprisingly approachable, probably because many originate from sparsely populated regions where they rarely encounter people, meaning that they may calmly forage for nuts only a few metres away in parks, gardens, woodland edges and beneath hazel bushes, making them exceptionally rewarding birds to watch and photograph; the most famous Dutch invasion took place in 1968, when thousands of birds began appearing from August onwards and a few even remained to breed in the Netherlands the following spring, while smaller invasions followed in years including 1971, 1977, 1985, 1991 and 2008. Anyone hoping to find one this autumn should therefore concentrate on areas with hazel bushes, pines, parks, woodland edges and food-rich deciduous or mixed forests, while watching for a jay-sized brown bird covered in white spots, with a strong, purposeful flight and a harsh rattling call, because if the current movement continues, 2026 may well become the year when a bird that many Belgian and Dutch birdwatchers have never seen in the wild suddenly turns up in a surprisingly large number of places
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