Overview

White-breasted Nuthatch: Large nuthatch, blue-gray upperparts, black crown and nape, and white face, underparts. Tail is dark with white corners. Legs and feet are black. Eats spiders,insects, nuts and seeds. Weak fluttering flight, alternates rapid wing beats with periods of wings drawn to sides.

Range and Habitat

White-breasted Nuthatch: Largely resident from British Columbia, Ontario, and Nova Scotia south to southern California, Arizona, the Gulf Coast, and central Florida. Absent from treeless areas in the Great Plains and semiarid shrub and scrub steppe of the Great Basin and Sonoran Desert. Common and widespread, inhabits mixed deciduous and coniferous forests, and prefers the presence of oak trees.

Breeding and Nesting

White-breasted Nuthatch: Three to ten white to pink eggs, marked with brown, purple and red, are laid in a cup nest made of twigs and grass, lined with bark shreds, hair, and feathers, and built in a natural cavity, knothole, woodpecker hole, or bird box, 10 to 60 feet above ground. Female incubates eggs for about 12 days.

Foraging and Feeding

White-breasted Nuthatch: Feeds on insects, spiders, seeds, and nuts. "Nuthatch” is derived from its habit of placing seeds or nuts in crevices of trees, then prying them open with its bill; may hide seeds in loose bark or crevices.

Readily Eats

Suet, Sunflower Seed

Vocalization

White-breasted Nuthatch: This bird is usually quiet during breeding season and in the summer. In late winter and spring it sings a series of about 6-8 low whistled notes. The call is a nasal sounding "yank-yank."

Similar Species

White-breasted Nuthatch: Red-breasted Nuthatch has a black eye-line and red underparts. Brown-headed and Pygmy nuthatches have brown caps and white patch on nape. While not definitive, Red-breasted, Pygmy, and Brown-headed nuthatches are mostly found in pines, whereas the White-breasted prefers deciduous trees.