Eurasian Nuthatch

Sitta europaea

The only European bird that walks headfirst down tree trunks. Wedges nuts in bark and hammers them open.

Population: Roughly 46–228 million mature individuals globally (BirdLife/IUCN estimate, consistent with Cornell's 10M-500M order-of-magnitude range); European breeding population estimated at roughly 21–57 million individuals depending on source (BirdLife vs. Cornell/PIF figures).
Habitat: Mature deciduous and mixed woodland with large old trees (favoring oak), also found in coniferous forest, parkland, gardens, and old orchards with suitable nesting/foraging trees.
Fun fact: The Eurasian Nuthatch is one of the few birds that can forage climbing head-first down tree trunks as well as up them, and females plaster the entrance of the nest hole with mud to shrink the opening and keep out predators and competitors.
Range: Widespread across the Palearctic from Great Britain and western Europe across most of continental Europe and temperate Asia to Japan and northern China; absent from Ireland and the far north of Scandinavia/Russia.
Diet: Primarily insects and other invertebrates (beetles, caterpillars, spiders) gleaned from bark in spring/summer; switches to nuts and seeds (hazelnuts, beech mast, acorns, conifer seeds) in autumn/winter, wedging them into bark crevices and hammering them open with the bill; also caches food year-round and visits bird feeders/tables (fat, cheese, bread).
Size: 0.14 m
Wingspan: 0.245 m
Lifespan: 12 years

More Songbirds