Sitta canadensis
red-breasted nuthatch

Sitta canadensis is native throughout the Nearctic region. It is the only migratory species in the family Sittidae. Its northern breeding range includes southeast Alaska, southern Yukon, southeast Mackenzie Valley, central Quebec, and Newfoundland in Canada. In the United States it breeds from central Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Michigan, and the southern Oregon border to northern California. On the east coast S. canadensis breeds from southern New York through Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. It migrates irregularly to southern Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and northern Florida to the Gulf Coast. (Ehrlich, Dobkin, and Wheye, 1988; Terres, 1982)

Red-breasted nuthatches prefer mature, partly open coniferous or mixed conifer-deciduous stands for breeding. They favor stands that have a tall, dense canopy and a dense understory of saplings. This structure provides protection from unfavorable environmental conditions and predators, and provides a greater abundance of arthropods.

Researchers found that nuthatches prefer ponderosa pine and incense cedar, which both have a rough bark surface that supports a diversity of arthropods. Smooth bark species, such as black oak and white fir are not visited regularly by nuthatches. (Adams and Morrison, 1993)

Red-breasted nuthatches are small nuthatches with compact bodies, short tails and necks, and a long tapered bill. They have very sturdy toes and claws that allow them to climb down trees headfirst or to move along the undersides of branches with their back to the ground. They average 11.5 cm in length and have an average mass of 10 grams. This is the only North American nuthatch that has a broad black stripe through the eye and a white stripe above it. Other distinguishing characteristics include a black cap on the head, a bluish gray back, and an underside washed with a rusty red or brown color. The chin, cheeks, and sides of the neck are white and the tail is characterized by white bands and dark tips on the outer tail feathers. Their wings are long and pointed and have ten primary flight feathers.

There is little difference between the sexes, except the female has a bluish black cap and paler underparts. Juveniles are similar to adults, but their head markings and underparts are duller in color. (Ehrlich, Dobkin, and Wheye, 1988; Terres, 1982)

The oldest known red-breasted nuthatch lived for at least 7 years and 6 months. (Ghalambor and Martin, 1999b; USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, 2002)

Instead of using the tail for support, as many bark gleaning species do, red-breasted nuthatches climb with one foot higher to hang from, and the other lower for support. They are able to climb headfirst down trees using this method. Climbing down trees provides a greater opportunity to find food in bark crevices that are overlooked by species that climb up trees.

Red-breasted nuthatches are extremely territorial during the breeding season. Pairs may even remain together throughout the winter to defend food territories if resources are plentiful. When resources are not plentiful, nuthatches migrate and spend the winter in mixed flocks. Red-breasted nuthatches are longer-lived and less fecund than white-breasted nuthatches, and so they place greater value on their own survival and future breeding rather than on their offspring's' survival. Ghalambor and Martin (1999) conducted an experiment to determine risk-taking behaviors associated with the red-breasted versus white-breasted nuthatches. Both respond to predators by increasing the time between nest visits and aborting some nest visits. However, the red-breasted nuthatches respond more to predators of adults rather than to predators of eggs, and the white-breasted had the opposite response. This suggests that life history directly affects parental care behaviors in this species.

Male threat displays are similar to the displays used for the courtship of females. Threat displays include a posture with drooping wings, an erect tail, and raised crest feathers. The head may be lowered and the tail is fanned with a pendulum-like motion. Agonistic behavior includes both aggressive and combat displays

Food shortages in the north cause irruptions of red-breasted nuthatches, which are southward invasions in unusually large numbers. They appear to be irregular events triggered by alternating seasons of crop failure. (Ehrlich, Dobkin, and Wheye, 1988; Ghalambor and Martin, 1999a; Terres, 1982)

Home Range

There is no information available on the home range of red-breasted nuthatches. (Ehrlich, Dobkin, and Wheye, 1988; Ghalambor and Martin, 1999a; Terres, 1982)

Red-breasted nuthatches use a variety of physical displays and vocalizations to communicate. The most common call of red-breasted nuthatches is a nasal "yank-yank" call that has been describes as sounding like a small tin horn. Both males and females have a broad range of other calls that are softer and used less frequently. (Ghalambor and Martin, 1999b)

Red-breasted nuthatches' diet consists of pine, spruce, and other conifer seeds and insects including beetles, wasps, caterpillars, crane flies, moths, and insect eggs. In general, the diet consists of mostly arthropods during the breeding season, and conifer seeds during the non-breeding season. The young are fed exclusively insects.

Nuthatches are bark-gleaning birds. They primarily forage on trunks, but also use a wide variety of substrates including branches, stumps, and the ground. They break food apart by wedging it into bark crevices and breaking smaller pieces off, or by prying seeds open with their strong beaks.

Nuthatches regularly store food during the fall and winter. They cache food under bark, in holes in tree trunks, and sometimes on the ground. They obtain water by drinking from small pools of water. (Adams and Morrison, 1993; Ghalambor and Martin, 1999b; Terres, 1982)

Red-breasted nuthatches are preyed upon by a number of bird and mammal species. Predators of adult red-breasted nuthatches include sharp-shinned hawks, Cooper's hawks, merlins, northern pygmy-owls, spotted owls, red squirrels and weasels. Steller's jays, housewrens, gray-necked chipmunks, weasels and mice are known predators of eggs and nestlings.

Red-breasted nuthatches defend their nest from predators by surrounding the entrance to the nest with pine pitch. They also join other small birds in mobbing potential predators, such as hawks and jays. When a nest is threatened, the female may jump out of her nest cavity and perch near the entrance to perform an anti-predator display. She spreads her wings and sways slowly back and forth to distract the predator from the nest. (Ghalambor and Martin, 1999a; Ghalambor and Martin, 1999b)

Adams and Morrison (1993) reported that red-breasted nuthatches may be important in the seed dispersal and germination of forest trees, based on observations of seed caching (localized storaging of food). (Adams and Morrison, 1993)

Red-breasted nuthatches have no known negative effect on humans.

Red-breasted nuthatches eat a variety of insects, including beetles, wasps, and flies, that humans consider to be pests. (Terres, 1982)

Populations of red-breasted nuthatches are increasing overall, but declining locally in some areas. Red-breasted nuthatches depend on habitat with standing dead trees and a variety of species. Logging and management practices that remove dead trees or reduce plant diversity have a negative impact on nuthatch populations. (Adams and Morrison, 1993; Ghalambor and Martin, 1999b)

The word 'nuthatch' may come from a Eurasian relative's fondness for hazelnuts, or for their ability to hack open nuts and seeds. (Terres, 1982)