Educate Yourself About the White-breasted Nuthatch and Other Nuthatches
White-breasted Nuthatch
The White-breasted Nuthatch has a large slightly upturned bill, black cap and eye, contrasting with a white face, chestnut undertail feathers, and a short, broad tail.
Its length is 5-6in (12-15cm) Its wingspan is 11in (28cm) Its voice is a song of a series of soft, nasal, whistles in one pitch; the call is a nasal “yank”. Their eggs are usually white, with lavender and brown spots, with 1 clutch consisting of 5-8 or (3-10) eggs. The female incubated the eggs for about 12 days, and the fledging time is around 14 days.
Both male and female feed their young.The female has a grey crown, instead of the black one on the male.
The White-breasted Nuthatch can be found in deciduous forests, across nearly the whole country, except for a strip down the Plains to Mexico. Only a few nuthatches are found in North America, out of the almost two dozen species of nuthatches in the world. These birds are the largest of the tribe, and can be nesting residents throughout the year. You can tell this bird apart from other nuthatches by its white face, and black crown.
The male and female are a devoted couple that stays together for life, and you can often hear their nasal call note in the woods all year long. The male will show some dominance over the female at your hanging bird feeders and bird tables, in your lovely bird feeding garden, by pushing her away. Both the male and female will cache sun flower seeds from bird feeding stations, but the female will hide her seeds, a little further away, because the male has a tendency to steal them.
Because of the time-consuming process of finding a crevice to wedge seeds into, and then crack it open, the nuthatch will cache hulled seeds. Perhaps they are more convenient to eat, and because the seeds are usually consumed right before roosting time when evening falls. In contrast, sunflower seeds with hulls will be eaten earlier in the day, when there is more ample daylight available.
The White-breasted Nuthatch has a funny way of traveling headfirst down a tree, but this way allows them to search for insects, and insects eggs that other “tree climbing” birds going head-up, might have missed. The name nuthatch comes from Middle English word, “nut-hacker”, because of the way they collect, and fly away with a nut or a seed. Then by wedging it into a crevice of tree bark, whacking it with its beak, or by using a pine scale as a tool, until the shells splits open.
In the winter time the nuthatches will join other flocks, like chickadees, and other small forest birds, feeding on insects, acorns, and beechnuts. Sometimes they will also spend time on stealing cached food from other birds in the flock. The nuthatches can recognize the chickadees warning calls, so while the nuthatch is busy looking for hidden treasures, he leaves the job of watching out for dangerous predators, to the chickadees.
The Nuthatch is actually a very friendly bird that can easily be tamed, by holding a few black walnuts (which they really love) in your hand. Make sure you stand very still, and do not have any eye contact with them; they might snatch their favorite nut from your hand after a few minutes.
If you like to attract the White-breasted Nuthatch and other nuthatches, to your lovely bird feeding garden, fill your hanging bird feeders and bird tables with hulled peanuts, sunflower seeds, suet, and peanut butter mixes. Look up our section on RECEPIES, for more information. Also put up nest boxes in plantations and coniferous forests. You can also drill small starter holes in dead trees and branches, if you like.
