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Red-breasted Nuthatch

Sitta canadensisOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Nuthatches (Sittidae)
Red-breasted Nuthatch Head Illustration

Head

  • Bill Shape: All-purpose
  • Eye Color: Brown.
  • Head Pattern: Eyeline, Plain
  • Crown Color: Black
  • Forehead Color: White
  • Nape Color: Black
  • Throat Color: White
  • Cere color: No Data
Red-breasted Nuthatch Body Illustration

Body

  • Length Range: 11 cm (4.5 in)
  • Weight: 11 g (0.4 oz)
  • Size: Size 1. Very Small (3 - 5 in)
  • Color: White, Black, Gray, Rufous or Rust
  • Underparts: Pale rust-brown
  • Upperparts: Blue-gray
  • Back Pattern: Solid
  • Belly Pattern: Solid
  • Breast Pattern: Solid
Red-breasted Nuthatch Flight Illustration

Flight

  • Flight Pattern: Weak fluttering flights of short duration, with rapid wingstrokes followed by brief folding of wings to sides.
  • Wingspan Range: 20 cm (8 in)
  • Wing Shape: Rounded-Wings
  • Tail Shape: Fan-shaped Tail
  • Tail Pattern: Solid with gray and white edging.
  • Upper Tail: Blue-gray
  • Under Tail: Pale rust-brown
  • Leg Color: Black
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Family Nuthatch (Sittidae)_blue
Species Sitta canadensis
Length4.5 Inches
Wingspan8 Inches

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch: Medium nuthatch with blue-gray upperparts and pale rust-brown underparts. Head has a black cap, white eyebrow, black eyestripe; throat is white. Bill is slightly upturned. Legs and feet are black. Weak fluttering flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings drawn to sides.

● Song: "yank-yank"

● Foraging & Feeding: Red-breasted Nuthatch: Eats insects, spiders, egg masses, seeds, and nuts. "Nuthatch" is derived from "nut-hack", a reference to the habit of hacking or pecking open nuts by wedging them in a bark crevice and hammering them open with its bill.

● Breeding & nesting: Red-breasted Nuthatch: Four to seven white to light pink eggs, marked with red brown, are laid in a cup of twigs and grass, lined with softer material, and built in a tree cavity. The entrance is usually smeared with pitch, presumably to discourage predators; pitch often gets on the bird's feathers, giving them a messy appearance. Nest is built by both parents, but female does most of the work. Eggs are incubated for approximately 12 days by the female.

● Similar species: Red-breasted Nuthatch: White-breasted Nuthatch lacks black eye-line and has mostly white underparts. Brown-headed and Pygmy nuthatches have brown caps, white patches on napes, and lack the eye-lines.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering flights of short duration, with rapid wingstrokes followed by brief folding of wings to sides.
Red-breasted Nuthatch Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Red-breasted Nuthatch: Breeds across Canada from southeastern Alaska, Manitoba, and Newfoundland south to southern California, Arizona, the Great Lakes region, and northern New England, and south in Appalachians to North Carolina. Spends winters in breeding range and irregularly south to the Gulf Coast and northern Florida. Preferred habitats include coniferous forests.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationFairly common to common
MigrationSome migrate
Weight0.4 Ounces