Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta canadensis
Bill Rowe
Like the Pine Siskin, featured a few weeks ago, the Red-breasted Nuthatch is a breeding bird of the boreal conifer forest that spans most of Canada and the northernmost states and extends down the major mountain ranges, both east and west. And, again like the siskin, this nuthatch is unpredictably “irruptive,” coming down in the fall to visit the rest of the United States, just about to the southern border, and to winter here, often putting in an appearance at our feeders. Of all the “winter” irruptives, this one starts the earliest, sometimes showing up in August (as it did this year). Like the other three North American nuthatches, the Red-breasted forages all over the trunks and branches of a tree, traveling up, down, and sideways as it probes the bark for animal prey and the cones for their seeds. For nesting, like a woodpecker, they dig a cavity in a dead part of a tree (or a tree with soft wood)—perhaps a surprising feat for such a little bird.
IDENTIFICATION: Easy! This species has the stubby tail and chisel bill of all nuthatches, with unique black-and-white head stripes and orangey underparts. The orange tone may be richer and redder (in males) or paler and peachier (in females). There is really nothing like it. Our common year-round resident White-breasted Nuthatch, a bit larger, is white below and gray above with a darker cap; it inhabits woods and suburbs and comes to feeders too. Both species give nasal ank-ank calls, but the Red-breasted’s are higher and tinnier, easy to pick out once you learn them.
ST. LOUIS STATUS: A migrant and winter resident, scarce to fairly common depending on the year (and, apparently, on the availability of food farther north). In good years, and especially during migration, it can be found in deciduous woods, but it always has a preference for conifers, which around here implies pine groves, or perhaps an ornamental spruce or fir in your yard.
Learn more and listen to the calls of Red-breasted Nuthatches here.
