365 Urban Species. #075: White-breasted nuthatch

[urbpan]

Photos by cottonmanifesto

Urbpan species #075: White-breasted nuthatch Sitta carolinensis

When I hear the rapid nasal call of the white-breasted nuthatch, I think, "what's so darn funny?" They aren't really laughing, but it does sometimes sound that way. Their sound is what will most likely draw your attention to them, since they are so stealthy in their movements. They circle tree limbs and trunks, working their way down, head first, probing the crevices in the bark for insects. Winter is when they are most conspicuous, dividing their time between finding pupae overwintering in rough bark furrows, and visiting birdfeeders to take away suet and sunflower seeds. One will take a seed back to the bark to wedge it in, and use its bill to open the husk (or "hatch the nut").

In winter nuthatches join mixed flocks of chickadees and titmice. These alert little bird species band together to form groups that are much more likely to detect predators than they would on their own. The white-breasted nuthatch is the most common urban nuthatch in North America. The red-breasted nuthatch (S. canadensis is a less-common North American species that needs conifer forest habitat, and the European Nuthatch (S. europea) is found in gardens and parks throughout England and the rest of Europe.




and then some context: same individual taken with my camera (not so close up)

Comments

Ha ha!

[turil.livejournal.com]

Here's a website (http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/362/_/White-breasted_Nuthatch.aspx) with a sound file of the Nuthatch's humorous call. (Actually, it sounds more like a mocking, teasing laugh!)

It's cute, by the way.

Oh, and today my class was out on a walk around Harvard and we found a dead bird. The other teacher told the kids to stay away from it (he's a little uncomfortable with random things, for some reason I can't explain), but I talked to some of the kids about why it died. One kid, who couldn't see the bird's head thought that a human had eaten it (the head). I also suggested that, since the body was intact, the bird may have just died of old age. One girl asked me if it was a sparrow, and I said I didn't think so. It was mostly black, medium sized, and the tips of the feathers had an outline of yellow. It may have had a bit of red on the neck area, but I don't remember. Maybe a blackbird? I'll have to look at your blackbird entry from a couple of days ago...

Re: Ha ha!

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

Cedar waxwing? :(

Re: Ha ha!

[turil.livejournal.com]

Pretty, but no. Having done a bit of online bird identifying it looks like it was a common starling:

Re: Ha ha!

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

:(

[ndozo.livejournal.com]

I never realized that the three kinds of birds hung around together on purpose, although I've always seen them together. That is really intriguing. I also never knew whether it was titmouses or titmice. I prefer "titmice" so I'm glad that's what it is.

[artemii.livejournal.com]

downy woodpeckers often join the group too! :)

i love nuthatches; a couple of winters ago one was living in my neighborhood.