Nuthatch- the size of a sparrow, similar in appearance to a miniature one, and as curious as a tit. The uniqueness of this bird lies not only in its rapid movement along a smooth trunk in different directions, but also in its ability to hang upside down on branches.

Description and features

The loud, noisy nuthatch belongs to the passerine order, has a compact body, a short tail and legs with tenacious curved claws. Dimensions depend on the species, length - in the range of 10–19 cm, weight - 10–55 g.

Red-breasted nuthatch

1. Wall climber

It lives in the Caucasus at an altitude of up to three thousand meters above sea level. Body length is up to 17 cm. Color is light gray with transitions to darker tones, with red sections of the wings standing out against the general background.

The wall climber makes small jumps along the steep surface of the cliffs, opening its unusually colored wings. It nests in rocky gorges near streams or waterfalls.

1. Shaggy (black-headed)

Due to low numbers, it is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. The distribution area is the south of Primorsky Krai. Small birds, 11.5 cm long, create local settlements. They live in deciduous and coniferous forests, pine forests and woodlands.

They prefer to move not along trunks, but along crowns, including small branches. The maximum number of eggs in a clutch is 6 pieces. They winter on the Korean Peninsula.

In addition to the common one, numerous species include the nuthatch:

1. Canadian

The species affiliation is determined by the small body size (11.5 cm), gray-blue plumage of the upper part, and reddish color of the abdomen and chest. Birds have a characteristic black stripe running across the eye and a black spot on the top of their head. It lives mainly in coniferous forests of the North, rich in food.

1. Chit

The smallest representative of the nuthatch family weighs only 9 to 11 g with a body length of 10 cm. Bluish-gray top, white bottom, whitish cap on the top. Lives in coniferous forests of Mexico, Colombia, and western North America.

It moves reluctantly along tree trunks and more often spends the day in the treetops. It makes nests in natural recesses of old trees. The clutch contains up to 9 eggs.

1. Corsican

The habitat corresponds to the name. It has a short beak on a small head and a 12-centimeter body. The upper part is standard gray and blue tones, the lower part is beige, the throat is almost white. The male's crown is black, the female's is gray. The voice is thinner and more muffled than that of the common nuthatch.

1. Small rocky

The size and color of the plumage is similar to the coachman. Lives in northern Israel, Syria, Iran, southern and western Turkey, on the island. Lesvos. They nest in ruins, on cliffs, and along ravines of the Mediterranean coast.

1. Big rocky

Reaches a size of 16 cm. Weight is greater than that of the giant - 55 g. The back is gray, the belly is white with red markings on the sides. Distribution area - Transcaucasia, Central and middle Asia. rock nuthatch lives and nests in the mountains. Features a loud whistle.

1. Azure

Java, Sumatra and Malaysia are favored by beautiful azure nuthatches, sharply different from other species. The back features a variety of shades of blue. Black plumage covers the back half of the abdomen, the top of the head, and the area around the eyes. The rest of the body is white. The unusual purple beak stands out.

Rare endangered populations that are in danger of extinction include the nuthatch:

1. Algerian, whose only place of settlement is located in the spurs of the Algerian Atlas Mountains.
2. Giant, up to 19.5 cm long and weighing up to 47 g.
3. White-browed, found exclusively in Myanmar.
4. Bahamian (brown-headed), whose numbers sharply declined after the 2016 hurricane in the Caribbean.

All species are united by similarities in lifestyle and appearance. The main differences are plumage color and habitat.

Lifestyle and habitat

Nuthatch bird active and restless. All day long, in search of food, it scurries along the trunks and branches of trees, making short flights. Distributed everywhere. Birds created settlements in most of Europe and Asia. They can be found in hot Morocco and the cold forest-tundra of Yakutia, in the Asian tropics.

In Russia, they more often settle in deciduous, mixed forests, and forest-park zones, where there are many bark beetles, wood borers, and leaf beetles. By eating pest beetles, the nuthatch prolongs the life of trees. Birds also settle in willow thickets, urban plantings, and in the Caucasus mountains.

Answer the question, Is the nuthatch a migratory bird or not?, monosyllables are not allowed. For the most part - . It is not without reason that each individual conscientiously stores up food supplies from autumn until the very cold, hiding nuts and seeds in secluded places in the nesting area.

The shaggy nuthatch lives in the south of the Korean Peninsula in winter, where it flies from Primorye. But this is rather an exception to the rule. If the birds are not disturbed, they stick to their area for years.

After the chicks grow up and leave the nest, families break up. Birds do not form specific flocks, but join tits and migrate with them over short distances in search of food.

Brave nuthatch in winter they calmly sit on the feeders, and in cold, stormy weather, if their supplies have been plundered by squirrels or chipmunks, they can easily fly into an open window. They willingly settle in small houses made for birds by humans, in the city or on summer cottages.

They take root well at home. Spacious enclosures, close proximity to siskins and linnets, are suitable for them. The place of residence is equipped with twigs, swings, and rotten stumps. Bird watching is almost the same as attending an acrobat performance. With normal care and sufficient living space, a nuthatch in captivity is capable of producing offspring.

Nutrition

In spring and summer, the coachman's diet is dominated by insects. This especially applies to the period of nesting and feeding chicks.

Protein nutrition includes:

• larvae, caterpillars;
• small arachnids;
• pest beetles (weevils, leaf beetles);
• flies, midges;
• worms;
• ants;
• bedbugs

More often, the nuthatch hunts for insects by deftly running along tree trunks and branches. But sometimes it descends to the ground, looking for food in the grass and forest turf. In autumn, birds love to eat bird cherry, hawthorn, and rose hips. The main plant diet consists of conifer cone seeds, beech and glen nuts, acorns, barley and oats.

Nuthatches are almost not afraid of people and are often found near feeders

According to the observations of ornithologists, the nuthatch has a good sense of smell; it will never be interested in an empty nut. It skillfully pierces the hard skin with a sharp, strong beak, pressing the fruit to the surface of the trunk, holding it with its paw, or placing it in a rocky crevice.

In winter, brave birds come to man-made feeders. When looking for food, they are not afraid to even sit on a hand with seeds or other treats. From autumn to December, crawlers create food reserves by placing nuts and seeds along cracks in the bark or hollows in different places so that the supplies do not disappear all at once.

Reproduction and lifespan

Puberty of birds ends at the end of the first year. Pairs are created once and for life. The nuthatch's mating song is heard in the forest in February, and by the end of March the pair is looking for a nesting site. Abandoned woodpecker hollows or hollows from rotten branches are suitable. The main thing is that they are at a height of three to ten meters.

Nuthatches place their nests in tree hollows

The entrance and adjacent areas of the bark are sealed with clay moistened with saliva. A hole with a diameter of 3–4 cm remains. Based on this feature, it is determined that it is the nuthatches that have settled here. The “ceiling” of the inside of the hollow is also “plastered”, and the lower part is lined with a thick layer of dusty bark and dry leaves. It takes two weeks to set up.

The nests of rock nuthatches are unique. They are a clay cone attached to the rock with a wide end. The most amazing thing is that the space around the entrance is decorated with bright feathers, fruit shells, and rags.

This decoration signals to other birds that the place is occupied. The pair trims the inner walls of the nest with chitin (wings, beetle underwings).

In April, the female lays 6–9 white eggs with brown specks, which are incubated for 2–2.5 weeks. At this time, the male actively cares for his female friend, offering her food throughout the day. When the chicks appear, both parents are concerned about feeding them.

More than three hundred times a day they bring caterpillars for their constantly hungry offspring. The chicks begin to fly after three to four weeks, but the male and female continue to provide them with food for another two weeks. After this, the young animals begin to feed on their own. Small birds live in the wild or in captivity for the same 10 years.

The common nuthatch (lat. Sitta europeae) belongs to the nuthatch family (Sittidae) from the order Passeriformes. Characteristic feature This small bird has an irresistible urge to climb tree trunks upside down.

In appearance and in its habits, it is in many ways reminiscent of the more common woodpeckers and tits. The Germans, for example, simply call it “woodpecker” (German: Spechtmeise). In Old Norse mythology, she often helps heroes find treasures, and then turns into a beautiful princess.

Behavior

Nuthatches are found throughout almost the entire territory of Eurasia and North Africa. The exception is in regions with very cold or hot climates. Birds lead a sedentary lifestyle and choose for their habitat deciduous or mixed forests with an abundance of old trees, in the hollows of which they build nests.

They can behave quite aggressively towards other birds, especially when they fly to feeders. They consider it unnecessary to share food with representatives of other species. At the same time, in winter, in search of food, they like to join other flocks, most often tits.

Reproduction

The mating season takes place in April-May. A married couple is formed once and for life. Usually on one square kilometer 2-3 pairs nest. Natural tree cavities or hollows abandoned by woodpeckers are used for nesting.

The nest is located at a height of 3 to 7 m above the ground. The entrance to it is often covered with clay and dung to make it smaller and inaccessible to predators. As a result, the diameter of the tap hole does not exceed 35-38 mm. The inside of the hollow is abundantly lined with pieces of bark and leaves. Sometimes animal fur or soft feathers are additionally used.

The female lays 6-9 matte white eggs with brownish speckles. During incubation, landslides forget about their habit of constantly making noise and become calm and cautious. The clutch is incubated by the female for 14-18 days. The chicks are born half naked. Their heads, shoulders and backs are decorated with rare long feathers.

The two parents tirelessly feed their offspring. Chicks can feed more than 350 times per day. At the age of 22-25 days, they can already fly, but live off their parents’ offerings for at least another week, after which they fly off in search of their own home range. Common nuthatches begin searching for a life partner and breeding offspring next spring.

Description

The body length is 12-14 cm with a wingspan of 22-26 cm. The birds weigh 20-25 g. Males are slightly larger than females. There is a large head on the dense body. The neck is very short.

The plumage is very fluffy and dense. The upper part of the body is colored bluish-gray. The abdomen is white or reddish. A dark stripe runs along the head. The paws are gray-brown, armed with long claws.

The average lifespan of a common nuthatch in natural conditions is 6-7 years. The total population size is estimated at 10 million individuals.

Are Nuthatch and Cuckoo migratory birds?

The common nuthatch is a bird species distributed on three continents: Europe, Asia and North Africa.

Habitat

The nuthatch lives mainly in forests. For these birds, it does not particularly matter which forest they nest in: deciduous, coniferous or mixed. These birds can be found in parks and gardens, cities.

Appearance

Average length These birds range from 12 to 14.5 cm. The weight is small - from 20 to 25 grams. An important characteristic for birds is their wingspan. In this species, with a rather small body volume, the wingspan width is no less than 23-27 cm.

common nuthatch photo

When you look at them, you get the impression that they are constantly shaggy and a little angry. This impression is created due to the fact that they have a dense build, practically no neck and a large head.

The plumage of nuthatches is fluffy and colorful. Depending on the region where it lives, the belly can be either reddish or light.

Lifestyle and nutrition

Individuals, especially young ones, are very active and love to constantly move around the forest space they control. These birds do not like strangers in their territory. By nature, nuthatches are very thrifty and thrifty, noisy.

common nuthatch eating lunch photo

All nuthatches run nimbly and quickly along tree trunks, both up and down. Tenacious strong claws help them hold on. They sing a lot and loudly. They lead a sedentary lifestyle. Each bird has its own territory, which they protect.

Their diet depends on the season. For example, in the spring, when they nest, they eat mainly small animals. It's about about beetles, bedbugs, sawflies and other species.

The unique colorful birds also eat butterflies and members of the spider family. In the middle or towards the end of the summer season, berries ripen in the forests.

common nuthatch on a tree photo

Birds love it very much berries, because they are tasty and healthy in terms of a large amount of vitamins. Nuthatches are also very fond of nuts. The shell does not become an insurmountable obstacle for them: they break it with their beak and take out the nuts themselves.

Reproduction

Mating season is April - May. During the breeding season, this species builds its nests on thick trees. Hollows in trees are often used, as they are very convenient for them. They like to place their homes at a height of at least four meters so that they are difficult to reach.

common nuthatch near its house photo

Males and females choose a permanent partner in the second year after birth and remain faithful for life. The egg-laying period for these birds generally begins in May. Typically, females hatch from 4 to 12 eggs.

The incubation period is about three weeks. The birds become silent and behave quietly. The chicks hatch, their parents care for them, and approximately 23 days after birth, the babies leave the nest. The parents feed the adult chicks for some time.

Vida

Appearance and behavior. A small, sparrow-sized bird with a very distinctive appearance, with a large head, a relatively long chisel-shaped beak, powerful clawed paws and a short tail. Body length 12–14 cm, weight 17–28 g. Most often seen jumping up or down the trunk and thick branches of trees. It differs from other bird-dart birds (woodpeckers, pikas) by its unique ability to climb vertical surfaces upside down. The flight is confident, straight at short distances and undulating at long distances.

Description. Males and females differ little. Within the region under consideration, the common nuthatch is represented by four geographical races, which differ very significantly in color characteristics. Most of European Russia from the northern taiga to the steppe zone and from the western borders to the Cis-Urals is inhabited by the nominative subspecies ( S. e. europaea). The upper body of these birds is bluish-gray, a black stripe runs from the beak through the eye, and the lower body in the throat, chest and belly is white. On the sides and especially on the undertail, a rich reddish-chestnut color is developed, brighter in males, slightly duller in females.

Females are also characterized by a brownish tint on the stripe across the eye and a yellowish-ochre coating on the belly. The undertail feathers are two-colored, chestnut at the edges and white in the middle; overlapping each other, they form wide white stripes with jagged edges on the chestnut background of the undertail. The top of the wings is colored in the same tone as the top of the body, while the inner webs of the flight feathers are dark brown, and the outer ones are light, bluish-gray. From below, the wings look more contrasting due to the white bases of the primary flight feathers and the black covert feathers adjacent to them. The tail when folded looks uniformly gray. On the unfolded tail, a light gray pair of central tail feathers is clearly visible, followed by black tail feathers with gray ends. Two pairs of outermost tail feathers with prominent white areas that are clearly visible in flight. The beak is light gray at the base, almost black at the tip. Paws are light, flesh-colored. The rainbow is dark.

The Siberian subspecies ( S. e. asiatica). It is smaller, with a shorter and pointed beak, and the reddish-chestnut color on the sides is less developed. Above the black stripe passing through the eye there is a noticeable white eyebrow, and the forehead is sometimes also white. The Caucasus has its own subspecies of the common nuthatch ( S. e. caucasica). It is slightly smaller than the European one, the throat is white, the rest of the underbody is colored reddish-ocher. The undertail and sides remain more richly colored than the rest of the lower body. Nuthatches of the Kaliningrad region represent a transitional form from the Central European subspecies ( S. e. caesia) to nominative ( S. e. europaea).

Central European nuthatches are similar in color to Caucasian ones, however, the area of ​​the white area on their throat is larger, and the color of the belly is noticeable pink tint. Occasionally such birds are found in middle lane Russia. Young birds are similar to females, but are even more dull in color, with a brownish tint in the color of the upper body and the stripe across the eye. The base of the beak and paw are lighter than in adults. Most of European Russia is inhabited by a single species of nuthatches. In the Caucasus, its range overlaps with the ranges of the wall climber. The European nuthatch differs from the red-breasted nuthatch in its larger size, long beak, lack of a white eyebrow and a black cap. Despite the fact that in the Caucasian subspecies of the common nuthatch the underside of the body is colored in reddish tones, its red color is never so rich and does not form an isolated contrasting spot as in the red-breasted one. The wall climber is very rarely found in the same habitats as nuthatches. But if this does happen, the wall climber can be easily distinguished by its red wings, long curved beak, large size, and coloring of the head and chest.

Voice Usually loud, the sound repertoire is very diverse. The most common call is the short “ tweet..." or " cit...", often made in rapid series of 2-4 calls. In addition, it can make other, sometimes unexpected, sounds: a trembling trill " sirrr... ", meowing cries "" or " miu-miu... Hey Hey... ", thin whistles similar to the calls of tits " sii-sii-sii...

" and others. Singing is a series of repeated loud clear whistles, either almost without pauses, or more measured, with pauses of 1–1.5 seconds. Distribution, status

. One of the most common and most noticeable forest birds. The number of northern populations is subject to irregular fluctuations, which depend on the harvest of the main food species. Lifestyle . Inhabits the most different types

Begins nesting in April-May, rarely earlier. Woodpeckers most often make nests in old hollows, sometimes in natural tree cavities, rarely in rock cracks or building walls, and willingly occupy artificial nesting sites. All care for the nest, from construction to the start of feeding the chicks, lies with the female. If the entrance in a hollow or crack is too large, the bird smears its edges with clay to the required diameter, and also seals all small cracks. The nest itself is a loose mound of thin pieces of bark, dry leaves, lichens and needles at the bottom of the nest chamber. The clutch contains 4–13 white eggs with reddish or brownish speckles. Incubation lasts 13–18 days, feeding lasts 19–29 days, and the male actively participates in it. The chicks become independent 8–14 days after leaving the nest.

Nuthatch, or common nuthatch ( Sitta europaea)