Spotted Nutcracker mostly occupies coniferous forests, but occurs in a wide range of habitats during invasions to lower latitudes. Its range extends across the Palearctic, from C Europe and Scandinavia to Kamchatka and Japan, S to Tien Shan (Madge et al. 2020). In Europe, it is widespread in the taiga belt to the N, but its distribution is more fragmented in C & SE Europe where it is a mountain-dwelling species (Keller et al. 2020). It is generally a resident, with some N populations prone to irregular irruptions within Europe.