Red-breasted nuthatch

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Red-breasted nuthatch
Female in Quebec, Canada

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Sittidae
Genus: Sitta
Species:
S. canadensis
Binomial name
Sitta canadensis
Linnaeus, 1766
Approximate distribution map
  Year-round
  Nonbreeding

The red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) is a small

upperparts with cinnamon underparts, a white throat and face with a black stripe through the eyes, a straight grey bill and a black crown. Its call, which has been likened to a tin trumpet, is high-pitched and nasal. It breeds in coniferous forests across Canada, Alaska and the northeastern and western United States. Though often a permanent resident, it regularly irrupts further south
if its food supply fails. There are records of vagrants occurring as far south as the Gulf Coast and northern Mexico. It forages on the trunks and large branches of trees, often descending head first, sometimes catching insects in flight. It eats mainly insects and seeds, especially from conifers. It excavates its nest in dead wood, often close to the ground, smearing the entrance with pitch.

Red-breasted nuthatch
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Red-breasted nuthatch
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Red breasted nuthatch
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Red-breasted nuthatch
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Red-breasted nuthatch
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Taxonomy

In 1760 the French zoologist

binomial name.[4]

Like all nuthatches, the red-breasted nuthatch is assigned to the genus Sitta (

linguistic corruption of "nuthack", referring to the bird's habit of wedging nuts into cracks in tree bark and hacking at them until they break open.[7] "Red-breasted" is a reference to the rusty colour of the male's underparts.[6]

The nuthatch's habit of wedging seeds into cracks and hammering them open has given rise to its common name.

In the past, the red-breasted nuthatch and four other species — the

sister clade.[10] The red-breasted nuthatch is monotypic across its extensive range.[9]

Description

The red-breasted nuthatch is a small passerine, measuring 4.5 in (11 cm) in length,[nb 1][12] with a wingspan of 8.5 in (22 cm) and a weight of 9.9 g (0.35 oz).[13] Its back and uppertail are bluish, and its underparts rust-colored. It has a black cap and eye line and a white supercilium (eyebrow). Sexes are similarly plumaged, though females and youngsters have duller heads and paler underparts.[12]

Voice

The red-breasted nuthatch's call is high-pitched, nasal and weak. Transcribed as yenk or ink,[13] they have been likened to a toy tin horn[12] or a child's noisemaker.[14] Its song is a slowly repeated series of clear, nasal, rising notes, transcribed as eeen eeen eeen.[13]

Habitat and range

Though it is primarily a full-time resident of northern and subalpine

Palearctic; one bird successfully overwintered in eastern England.[16]

Feeding behavior and diet

Like all nuthatches, the red-breasted nuthatch is an acrobatic species, hitching itself up and down tree trunks and branches to look for food.

creepers, it does not use its tail as a prop while climbing.[17] It tends to forage singly or in pairs.[15]

The red-breasted nuthatch's diet changes depending on the season. In the summer, it eats mostly insects, occasionally even flycatching, while in the winter, it switches to conifer seeds.[18] At feeders it will take sunflower seeds, peanut butter, and suet. It often wedges food pieces in bark crevices in order to break them up with the bill (as opposed to holding the food in their feet, like the black-capped chickadee does).

Breeding

The red-breasted nuthatch, like all nuthatches, is monogamous. The male courts the female with a peculiar display, lifting his head and tail while turning his back to her, drooping his wings, and swaying from side to side.

This bird excavates its own cavity nest, 1.53–37 m (5.0–121.4 ft) above ground (usually around 4.6 m (15 ft)). Excavation is by both sexes and takes one to eight weeks.[19] The pair smears sap around the entrance hole, presumably to help deter predators.[17] The nest is lined with grass, moss, shredded bark and rootlets. Nest building is by both sexes, but mostly by the female.

The female lays 2–8

altricial
and stay in the nest for 2–3 weeks, brooded by the female but fed by both sexes. Normally there is only one brood per year. Lifespan is around 6 years.

Conservation status and threats

Because of its large global range and its increasing population, the red-breasted nuthatch is rated as a species of

Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.[1] In the Americas, it is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.[21]

Notes

  1. ^ By convention, length is measured from the tip of the bill to the tip of the tail on a dead bird (or skin) laid on its back.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b BirdLife International (2012). "Sitta canadensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ^ Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés (in French and Latin). Vol. 3. Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. pp. 592–594, Plate 29 fig 4. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
  3. ^
    hdl:2246/678
    .
  4. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1766). Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (12th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 177.
  5. ^ Linnaeus, C (1758). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata (in Latin). Holmiae. (Laurentii Salvii). p. 115. Rostrum subcultrato-conicum, rectum, porrectum: integerrimum, mandíbula superiore obtusiuscula. Lingua lacero-emarginata
  6. ^
    ISBN 0-88192-600-0
    .
  7. ^ "Nuthatch". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster Online. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
  8. ^ Elphick, Dunning and Sibley 2001, p. 435
  9. ^ a b Harrap 2008, p. 136
  10. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1998.tb04553.x
    .
  11. ISBN 0-19-857358-8
    .
  12. ^
    ISBN 0-7922-5314-0
    .
  13. ^
    ISBN 1-873403-98-4
    .
  14. ISBN 978-0-9640810-7-9
    .
  15. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-854012-0
    .
  16. ISBN 978-0-9542545-3-7
    .
  17. ^ a b Reed 2001, p. 437
  18. ^ Harrap, Simon; Quinn, David (1996). Tits, Nuthatches & Treecreepers. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 144–148.
  19. ^ Reed 2001, p. 436
  20. ^ "All About Birds: Red-breasted Nuthatch, Life History". Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
  21. US Fish and Wildlife Service
    . Retrieved 16 September 2011.

Cited texts

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Red-breasted Nuthatch.
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