Red-breasted Nuthatch

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