Quantcast

Pygmy Nuthatch

Sitta pygmaeaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Nuthatches (Sittidae)
Bird database and its related content, illustrations and media is Copyright © 2002 - 2007  Whatbird.com
All rights reserved. No part of this web site may be reproduced without written permission from Mitch Waite Group.
 Privacy Policy.
Percevia® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
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