White-breasted Nuthatch

Sitta carolinensisOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Nuthatches (Sittidae)

General

White-breasted Nuthatch: Large nuthatch with blue-gray upperparts, black crown and nape, and white face and underparts. Tail is dark with white corners. Female is grayer. Clings to trees, often upside down.

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.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"yank-yank"

Interesting Facts

While the Red-breasted, Pygmy, and Brown-headed Nuthatches are mostly found in pines, the White-breasted Nuthatch prefers deciduous trees.

They often travel with small mixed flocks in winter. One explanation for these flocks is that the birds gain protection from predators by the vigilance of the other birds.

They gather nuts and seeds, jam them into tree bark, and hammer or "hatch" the food open with their bills.

A group of nuthatches are collectively known as a "jar" of nuthatches.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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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.

White-breasted Nuthatch

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.

● Song: "yank-yank"

● Foraging & 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.

● Breeding & 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.

● 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.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering flights of short duration., Alternates several rapid wing beats with wings drawn to sides.

White-breasted Nuthatch Body Illustration

● Range & 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.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^Population

^MigrationNonmigratory

^Weight0.7 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America