Profile
In flight
Songbirds
White-breasted Nuthatch
Sitta carolinensis
- rare
- 55 km/h
- Least Concern
The one going down the tree headfirst. Yanks acorns into bark cracks and hammers them open.
- Population
- ~10 million individuals globally (BirdLife/Partners in Flight estimate ~10.5 million mature individuals); population stable to slightly increasing
- Habitat
- Mature deciduous and mixed forests, open woodlands, orchards, parks, suburban gardens/cemeteries with large trees; in the west also montane pine-oak and pinyon-juniper woodlands, with global elevational range from sea level up to ~4,000 m
- Fun fact
- The White-breasted Nuthatch is named for its habit of wedging nuts and large seeds into bark crevices and hacking ("hatching") them open with its bill, and it is well known for foraging head-first down tree trunks.
- Range
- Resident (non-migratory) across most of temperate North America, from southern Canada south through the continental United States (to northern Florida in the east) to the highlands of central/southern Mexico; global range ~14.9 million km², ~95% of it in North America
- Diet
- Omnivorous and seasonal: mostly insects, spiders, and other arthropods (caterpillars, ants, weevils, scale insects) in summer; shifts to roughly 70% seeds and nuts in winter, often cached under bark
- Size
- 0.14 m
- Wingspan
- 0.24 m
- Lifespan
- 12 years
