Red-breasted Nuthatch

Sitta canadensis

eBird gives this description of the Red-breasted Nuthatch:  Small, cute, energetic nuthatch. Distinctive with bold black-and-white head pattern, blue-gray upperparts, and orangey belly. Males are brighter than females. Typically found in coniferous or mixed forests, often in mixed flocks with other songbirds. Creeps along tree trunks and branches, often upside-down. Nomadic; they sometimes move south in large numbers in fall and winter. Visits feeders. Listen for nasal calls.  All About Birds adds this additional descriptive information about the Red-breasted Nuthatch: An intense bundle of energy at your feeder, Red-breasted Nuthatches are tiny, active birds of north woods and western mountains. These long-billed, short-tailed songbirds travel through tree canopies with chickadees, kinglets, and woodpeckers but stick to tree trunks and branches, where they search bark furrows for hidden insects. Their excitable yank-yank calls sound like tiny tin horns being honked in the treetops.

I encountered my first Red-breasted Nuthatch at the east drip at Sabine Woods on the morning of April 20, 2021.  The bird I watched was a juvenile, and did not have the distinctive red breast. 

When I first saw this energetic bird, it was hanging from the east drip line at Sabine Woods on April 20, 2021.
The Red-breasted Nuthatch took a quick bath. Sabine Woods, April 20, 2021.


“Cool Facts” About the Red-breasted Nuthatch From All About Birds:

  • The Red-breasted Nuthatch collects resin globules from coniferous trees and plasters them around the entrance of its nest hole. It may carry the resin in its bill or on pieces of bark that it uses as an applicator. The male puts the resin primarily around the outside of the hole while the female puts it around the inside. The resin may help to keep out predators or competitors. The nuthatch avoids the resin by diving directly through the hole.
  • During nest building, the Red-breasted Nuthatch is aggressive, chasing away other hole-nesting birds such as the House Wren, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Downy Woodpecker. A particularly feisty nuthatch may go after Yellow-rumped Warblers, House Finches, Violet-Green Swallows, and Cordilleran Flycatchers.
  • Red-breasted Nuthatches migrate southward earlier than many irruptive species. They may begin in early July and may reach their southernmost point by September or October.
  • Red-breasted Nuthatches sometimes steal nest-lining material from the nests of other birds, including Pygmy Nuthatches and Mountain Chickadees.
  • The oldest known Red-breasted Nuthatch was 7 years, 6 months old.