This week’s Bird of the Week, compliments of the Weminuche Audubon Society and Audubon Rockies, is the red-breasted nuthatch.
This chatty, active, small bird is a common resident of the boreal forests that stretch across Canada, and of the mountains of the southwest and southern Appalachians. It differs from our other resident nuthatch species, the pygmy and white-breasted, in its preference for forests of spruce and fir. It is the only North American nuthatch to undergo regular, southern irruptive movements when cone crops in its northern breeding ranges are poor.
This compact bird has a short tail and almost no neck. It is colored blue-gray above and rusty red below. It has a black crown and eyeline divided by a white eyebrow. Females are paler versions of males.
The name nuthatch refers to the method employed by this group of birds to eat the hard-shelled seeds and nuts which are its winter diet. After wedging a seed into a bark crevice, the nuthatch uses its strong upturned bill to “hatch” it into smaller, palatable pieces. Food that is not consumed is stored in bark crevices to eat when it is less available. They often show little fear of humans and will come to feeders.
In spring and summer, the red-breasted searches the bark of tree trunks and branches for insects, their larvae and eggs, and other arthropods to eat. Strong feet and toes, and long, curved claws allow the bird to move up, down and sideways on the tree, often moving headfirst down the tree in a zigzag pattern.
The clever red-breasted nuthatch prefers to excavate its own nest hole, often in the softer wood of a dead or partially dead aspen tree. To help keep out predators and nest site competitors, a pair collects globs of resin and spreads it around the inside and outside of the hole. They may use a piece of bark as a tool to apply the sticky sap. To avoid getting stuck themselves, they dive directly through the hole when entering or exiting the nest.
This year’s bumper crop of cones with seeds in ponderosa pines is a boon to the forest birds and mammals that depend on this food source to make it through the winter.
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