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Red-Breasted Nuthatch


Picture
The Red-Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) is a small bird, only 4.5 inches in length.  It has a blue-gray back, shoulders and wings, a blue-gray rump, and a short blue-gray tail.  It has a black cap and nape, a white eyebrow, white cheeks, and a black eye line from the beak to the back of the head.  The underparts are rust-colored.

The Red-Breasted Nuthatch call is nasal and high-pitched, resembling the sound of a tiny tin horn, ink, ink, ink, often repeated in a series.  It climbs up and down tree trunks, often headfirst, and walks on the underside of tree limbs.  It eats seeds, nuts, and some insects, and will visit feeders for sunflower seeds, peanut butter, and suet.  It wedges food in the crevices of a tree and pounds the shell or exoskeleton open with its bill.

These birds are fairly common to common in mixed conifer-deciduous forests and in boreal and subalpine conifer forests.  it is considered stable, but vulnerable to habitat loss due to logging operations.  Its eastern range is expanding southward.

Click here for additional information and a range map.

Click on the players below to hear the Red-Breasted Nuthatch.

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  • Home
  • Animals
    • Birds >
      • Avian Taxonomy
      • Bird Species Profiles
    • Mammal Species Profiles
    • Reptiles
    • Amphibians >
      • Frog and Toad Species Profiles
    • Fish
    • Arthropods >
      • Arthropod Species Profiles
  • Plants
    • Native Plant Societies
    • Eastern Plant Identification Guide
  • Fungi
    • Fungi Species Profiles
  • Protists
  • Nature Products Store
  • Cell Phone Ringtones
  • Madbird Feeder Cam
  • Ramblings of the Madbird Biologist
  • Bird Videos
  • News in Science
  • Nature Inspired Recipes
  • An Introduction to Scientific Classification and Naming
  • Birds in the Classroom
  • Resources
  • About Me