Birds of Arlington - White-breasted Nuthatch

Birds of Arlington

White-breasted Nuthatch

(Sitta carolinensis)

Adult, Genders Alike

Present: Year Round

Visual Identification

Where and When to see them

Visual Identification

White-breasted Nuthatches are cute, smallish birds with a slate grey back and white belly. Their undertail coverts can have rusty staining, as well as their flanks. Their wings and tail are slate grey with black/dark-grey patterns at the end. Their head is slate gray with a black cap that leaks down their nape. Their legs are gray and their bill is pointy and sometimes bicolored: blackish-blue above, leaking down at the tip onto peachish off white below. If the bill is not bicolored then it is blackish-blue with some dark gray.

Voice

They make cute Yank! Calls, and when given in volleys they sound like nasal laughing! Sometimes when doing territorial displays they hiss.

Habitat

Nuthatches will spend most of their time in wooded areas, such as dense forests, riparian forests, open woods, brushy woodland, and suburbia. They particularly like snags and will hang out in areas with more of them.

Behavior

Nuthatches are small birds that resemble woodpeckers by the way they peck and climb trees. They can be heard up in trees pecking and calling to their content as they find insects and nuts to either eat, or cache away. They forage by shimmying up trees, while shimmying they go around trees and will often decide to change the direction they want to rotate around the tree with while climbing multiple times per tree. They forage by starting at the base of the tree/ branch and working their way up/out. They will also go down trees headfirst and rump first though the former is more common than the latter.

Nuthatches are aggressive during breeding season, and will fiercely defend their territory and food sources, even from different species. Their territorial display is awe inspiring. They will fan out their wings and tail and occasionally hiss to scare/intimidate intruders. Unlike their normal summer solitary behavior, in spring they have been know to form small, single-species groups. In winter they form groups of mixed species with chickadees, Titmice, and woodpeckers.

Comparisons

Brown Creeper

Brown Creepers are similar in movement to nuthatches because they do creep up trees, but note their completely white and brown coloration, as nuthatches don’t have brown. They also have a more curved bill, and tend to remain silent. Brown Creepers can also only be seen during migration and winter.

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warblers are very similar to nuthatches, but notice their fine black bill, dark face mask, and the fact that they do not creep up trees. Unlike nuthatches they produce a sweet song, that sounds like “I’m so lay-zeeeeee”. Both prefer the same habitats.

Black-and-White Warbler

Black-and-white Warblers are similar to nuthatches, but lack the slate grey back and have yellow feet with black legs. They also have a black and white Striated pattern all over their body, unlike the nuthatches. Both creep up trees and prefer the same habitats.

Where and When to see them

Nuthatches are common and easy to find. They are most common in fall and spring, when other Nuthatches come down/up from the north/south. The best place to see them is the Long Branch Nature Center, as they put up a year round suet cage that attracts them.

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