WINTER BACKYARD BIRDS (U.S. AND CANADA)

White-Breasted Nuthatch

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Sitta Carolinensis

Adults have a black cap and an all-white face and breast.

Males have a black cap extended to the neck, and forming a partial collar.

Upperparts are blue-gray. Their wings and tail feathers have white edges.

Their tail is short, and their underparts are white but have a rusty region on the belly and towards the undertail coverts.

Bill is longer than those of other nuthatches and seems slightly upturned. The eyes are black. The strong legs and feet are dark grey.

Females are similar to males, but duller and grayer, particularly on the head.

Juveniles resemble adults, but slightly paler.

BILL: long, sharply pointed.

SIZE: measures about 5.1 - 5.5 inches in length, with a wingspan of 7.9 - 10.6 inches.

WEIGHT: weighs about 18 - 30 grams.

COLOR: black, white, gray, and rust.

Insects and spiders also eats vegetable food such as acorns, and other nuts or large seeds.

Deciduous woodlands in the east, and in oaks and conifer forests in the west. Prefers openings and edges, also in parks and suburban areas with large trees.

Southern Canada, and southward to northern Florida and southern Mexico.

CALL: a low, soft and nasal “yank” repeated.

SONG: they have several kinds of songs, consisting of several notes, and are used for territorial defense.

Their typical song is a rapid series of nasal whistles on one single pitch.

They utter a sweet “chirp” when mates meet, or when feeding their young.

NEST: The female builds a soft cup made of bark fibers, grass, hair, and feathers, and may add mud to the entrance, to protect from larger predators.

EGGS: 5 - 9 dull white eggs, spotted with brown on the larger end.

INCUBATION: 12 - 14 days, female fed by the male.