GRAY BIRDS SEEN IN NORTH AMERICA

Pygmy Nuthatch 

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Sitta Pygmaea 

They are bluish-gray above with a sharply defined brown crown and pale nape spot. The throat is white and the underside creamy buff. Some subspecies show a blackish line through eye.

BILL: long, sharp and pointed.

SIZE: small, measuring 3.5 - 4.3 inches in length with a wingspan of 8 inches.

WEIGHT: weighs about 9 - 11 grams.

COLOR: bluish-gray, brown, white and creamy buff.

Primarily feeds on insects in the summer. The winter diet includes many seeds, especially pine seeds.

Found primarily in ponderosa pine forests. They can also occasionally be found in other types of pine forests, in pinyon-juniper woodlands, and in redwood canyons.

Southern British Columbia south through various discontinuous parts of the western U.S. (northwest U.S., Sierra Nevada range, southern Rockies, etc.), to central Mexico.

SONG: Wide variety of warning and flight calls, often given in near-unison as small groups move.

NEST: Nest in cavities in dead stubs of conifers, lining the bottom of the cavity with pine-cone scales, plant down, and other soft plant and animal materials. They may fill cracks or crevices around the entrance with fur.

EGGS: 4 – 9 white eggs with fine reddish-brown spotting.

INCUBATION: 12 - 17 days, female. 

NESTLING PHASE: 14 - 22 days.

They are highly sociable. A nesting pair may have other birds as helpers. Outside the breeding season, this bird wanders in noisy flocks. It also roosts communally; over 100 birds have been seen huddled in a single tree cavity.

SOURCES:
https://www.birds-of-north-america.net
https://en.wikipedia.org
https://www.allaboutbirds.org
https://www.sdakotabirds.com