This week for Flora and Fauna Friday we have a trio of diminutive, gravity-defying, gregarious songbirds: the Nuthatches of genus Sitta.
Here in the eastern United States we have three species of Nuthatch, the White-breasted (Sitta carolinensis), Brown-headed (Sitta pusilla), and Red-breasted (Sitta canadensis). The White-breasted Nuthatch is common throughout SC, particularly in hardwood or mixed forests. The Brown-headed Nuthatch is also common throughout the state, more so towards the coast, but is partial to pine forests. The Red-breasted Nuthatch only visits us sporadically in the winter. It’s most common on the immediate coast and in the mountains.
All three of our Nuthatches are small and bullet-shaped with a blue-gray back streaked by charcoal, white cheeks, sharp bill, and beady black eyes. All in all their common names are pretty spot on descriptions. The White-breasted Nuthatch has a snow white underside, from chin to tail-tip except for rusty thighs, and a thin black cap over an otherwise unmarked face. The Brown-headed Nuthatch has a chestnut cap that reaches just below the eyes with a white spot on the nape, a white throat, and an aluminum-gray underside. The Red-breasted Nuthatch has a rust stained underside along with a black cap and eye-stripe that are bordered by matching stripes of white.
It’s also easy to pick our Nuthatches out by sound. They’re quite active, social, and vocal birds with short and unmistakable calls. Nine times out of ten if one’s there, there’s more than one and they’re making noise at each other. Our White-breasted Nuthatch gives a calls that’s best described as a dry, nasal laugh of one or more “hah”. The Brown-headed Nuthatch flat out sounds like a rubber-ducky or a dog’s squeaky toy. The Red-breasted Nuthatch sounds like a nasal bike-horn or toy trumpet.
The most interesting physical characteristic of Nuthatches are their feet and what they do with them clodhoppers. Nuthatches have long toes and an extra-long rear toe. This improves their ability to hang onto bark. Nuthatches can climb straight up a tree or straight down a trunk or around a trunk or upside-down along the whole length of a branch. To them the orientation makes no difference because those big toes give them ample traction to go anywhere they please. Nuthatches are primarily insectivores but they’ve also got an obsession with sunflower seeds. When given a supply, Nuthatches will quickly collect and stash sunflower seeds behind the flakes of bark on every surrounding tree, snacking all the while. They do the same with pine seeds in the wild. Just like Squirrels, these caches will help them through leaner times.
