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Pygmy Nuthatch

Sitta pygmaeaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Nuthatches (Sittidae)
Pygmy Nuthatch Head Illustration

Head

  • Bill Shape: All-purpose
  • Eye Color: Brown.
  • Head Pattern: Plain, Special (unique patterns or features)
  • Crown Color: Gray
  • Forehead Color: Gray
  • Nape Color: Gray
  • Throat Color: White
  • Cere color: No Data
Pygmy Nuthatch Body Illustration

Body

  • Length Range: 11 cm (4.25 in)
  • Weight: 11 g (0.4 oz)
  • Size: Size 1. Very Small (3 - 5 in)
  • Color: White, Brown, Black, Gray
  • Underparts: White
  • Upperparts: Blue-gray
  • Back Pattern: Solid
  • Belly Pattern: Solid
  • Breast Pattern: Solid
Pygmy Nuthatch Flight Illustration

Flight

  • Flight Pattern: Short flights, weak and fluttering, with several rapid wing beats.
  • Wingspan Range: 20 cm (8 in)
  • Wing Shape: Rounded-Wings
  • Tail Shape: Fan-shaped Tail
  • Tail Pattern: Solid
  • Upper Tail: Blue-gray
  • Under Tail: White
  • Leg Color: Gray
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Family Nuthatch (Sittidae)_blue
Species Sitta pygmaea
Length4.25 Inches
Wingspan8 Inches

Pygmy Nuthatch

Pygmy Nuthatch: Small nuthatch, blue-gray upperparts and pale yellow breast. Head has a dark gray-brown cap, pale spot on nape, and thick black eye-line; throat is white. Legs and feet are gray. Weak fluttering flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings drawn to sides, usually of short duration.

● Song: "tee-dee, tee-dee", "wee-bee, wee-bee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Pygmy Nuthatch: Diet consists of caterpillars, moths, other insects, and conifer seeds; forages by climbing up and down trunks and branches, often turning upside down and sideways.

● Breeding & nesting: Pygmy Nuthatch: Four to nine white eggs with red brown flecks are laid in a nest made of soft plant material, in a cavity of a dead pine or stump, usually about 15 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 15 to 16 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Pygmy Nuthatch: Red-breasted Nuthatch is larger and has black cap and black eye-line with a white eyebrow.

Flight Pattern

Short flights, weak and fluttering, with several rapid wing beats.
Pygmy Nuthatch Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Pygmy Nuthatch: Resident locally from southern British Columbia, eastward to the Black Hills of South Dakota, and southward into Mexico. Primary habitat consists of ponderosa pine forests with undergrowth of bunchgrass; also occurs in stands of other pines, Douglas firs, and western larch.
BreedingMonogamous, Cooperative
PopulationFairly common
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight0.4 Ounces