Red-breasted_nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Sittidae Genus: Sitta Species: S. canadensis
Binomial name
Sitta canadensis Linnaeus, 1766

The Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta canadensis, is a small songbird.

Adults have blue-grey upperparts with reddish underparts; they have a white face with a black stripe through the eyes, a white throat, a straight grey bill and a black crown. This bird is smaller than the White-breasted Nuthatch.

Their breeding habitat is coniferous forests across Canada, Alaska and the northeastern and western United States south to Baja California (Mexico)^{[verification needed]}. They excavate a nest in dead wood, often close to the ground. They smear the entrance to their nest with pitch.

These birds are often permanent residents, but they regularly migrate into the southern United States if the food supply fails. This species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe, and one bird successfully overwintered in Great Britain.

They forage on the trunk and large branches of trees, often descending head first, sometimes catching insects in flight. They mainly eat insects and seeds, especially from conifers.

The call is like a tin trumpet. It is similar to that of the White-breasted Nuthatch, but higher in pitch.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

References

• BirdLife International (2004). Sitta canadensis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Sitta canadensis

• Red-breasted Nuthatch videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• Additional Pictures of Red-breasted Nuthatch
• MP3 audio file of a the Red-breasted Nuthatch\'s song

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia