With few exceptions, the birds that live in Hungary today were already present here during the Pleistocene. However, there were also a number of species – some of them very numerous (e.g. ptarmigans) – which are nowadays found in other, cooler or expressly cold climates. Some species still occur here sporadically (e.g. the northern nutcracker and the snowy owl), but every year fieldfare migrate in large numbers from northern territories to spend the winter and then return to their nesting grounds when the weather improves.