Our choice of lunch venue was the all-but-deserted car park, pretty much at the peak of the range (at 2,800m), and well within the oscillating cloud bank. Unexpectedly we were soon attended by two pairs of these beauties - Nucifraga caryocatactes owstoni, the endemic subspecies of Eurasian / Spotted Nutcracker.
Having only seen this particularly beautiful species at some distance in Scandinavia, it was an unexpected bonus to have them loitering patiently at the mere rustle of a wrapper...
