Nucifraga hemispila
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The southern nutcracker (Nucifraga hemispila) is a passerine bird in the crow family Corvidae. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the northern nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) and the Kashmir nutcracker (Nucifraga multipunctata) under the English name "spotted nutcracker".
The southern nutcracker was formally described in 1831 by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Vigors under the binomial name Nucifraga hemispila. He specified the type locality as just "the Himalayas"; however, research into Vigors' travels has been able to restrict the locality to the Shimla and Almora districts of northern India. The genus name Nucifraga is the Latin name given to the northern nutcracker by the English naturalist William Turner in 1544, as a translation of the German name Nussbrecher meaning "nut-breaker". The specific epithet hemispila combines the Ancient Greek ἡμι-/hēmi- meaning "half-" or "small" with σπιλος/spilos meaning "stain" or "spot". The southern nutcracker was formerly considered to be conspecific with the spotted nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes), that now renamed in its revised narrower ciscumscription as northern nutcracker. It is here treated as a... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Langtang National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 2 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 3 | Jiuzhaigou National Park | 🇨🇳 China |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Nutcracker sighting in Jiuzhaigou National Park on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 76th most-seen of the 131 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September and October
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Nutcracker in Jiuzhaigou National Park on a given day, against under 5% in November, the lowest month. January to March have too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Southern Nutcracker sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Southern Nutcracker sightings, Jiuzhaigou National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Langtang National Park (Nepal, about 30%) and Taroko National Park (Taiwan, about 20%).
Same family: Corvidae
The closest relatives of the Southern Nutcracker that you can see in Jiuzhaigou National Park (family Corvidae, Crows, Jays, and Magpies) are Large-billed Crow (about 40%), Red-billed Chough (about 10%) and Carrion Crow (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southern Nutcracker is recorded against all the birds logged in Jiuzhaigou National Park (17 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
