See all posts in the Birds of Carver County series
The white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) is a year-round resident of Carver County, and familiar to anyone providing seeds or suet at their bird feeders. In our area in the winter, this species may be joined by its smaller cousin, the red-breasted nuthatch, which travel south to take advantage of our more abundant food. The other members of the nuthatch group are the pygmy nuthatch in the western states and the brown-headed nuthatch in the southeast.
Males and females are about six inches long with short tails and with a wingspan of about one foot. Both sexes have white faces and breasts with blue-gray backs with thin black and white marks on some feathers. There is a rust-colored area under their tail. Males have a black crown while females’ crowns may be grayer. It is difficult to judge the difference unless the pair is seen together. Juvenile birds will be like the females and have more subdued colors than adult males.
White-breasted nuthatches are seen wherever mature hardwood trees are present, including parks, suburban woods and in the trees along streams and ponds in otherwise agricultural landscapes. The species is part of the group known as bark foragers. This includes woodpeckers, flickers, creepers and chickadees.
Nuthatches feed primarily on insects during the summer. Seeds are important at other times of the year and are frequently stored within crevices and furrows in tree bark. In the winter, they may form feeding groups with chickadees.
Nuthatches are unique in their ability to face downward as they descend a tree trunk or hang upside down on a limb. This gives them a feeding advantage of seeing insects that other species miss. After visiting our bird feeders, they usually fly 30 to 40 feet away to hide a single seed, then return and repeat the process, but departing to a different storage spot. When they find large nuts and seeds, they jam them into the bark and hammer them open with their long, slightly upturned beak.
After finding a cavity excavated by a woodpecker, females build a nest on their own, using fur, bark and lumps of dirt. She then builds a nest cup of grass, shredded bark, feathers and other soft materials. White-breasted nuthatches often reuse their nest holes in subsequent years. They sometimes use nest boxes. When the female is in the nest cavity, the male will feed her about seven times an hour.
Laying eggs, incubation and caring for juveniles starts in April and May and ends about eight weeks later when the young disperse. The parents stay close together through the rest of the year and may rejoin for the next breeding season.
Both sexes may be heard “singing” and exchanging calls throughout the year. They vocalize to announce territory, communicate with their partner and to respond to trespassers or threats. Wings and tail feathers might be spread to intimidate threats or to defend territory.
White-breasted nuthatches have become accustomed to our suburbs and feeders. Their “nasal” single-note songs and contact calls are distinctive. These characteristics and their cleanly defined coloration make them a common neighbor that many of us can enjoy every day.
For more information:
- The Sibley Guide to Birds, David Allen Sibley
- Minnesota Nature Notes, Jim Gilbert
- Birds of Minnesota, Robert B. Janssen
- Breeding Birds of Minnesota, Pfannmuller, Niemi and Green
- The Audubon Society’s Encyclopedia of North American Birds, John K. Terres
- Birds of the World, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Online: All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology LINK
- Online: Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas
