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Home > Red-Breasted Nuthatch
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Red-Breasted Nuthatch
Description: Smaller than the White-Breasted Nuthatch, the Red-Breasted Nuthatch is a common sight in the spruce forests of our north country and southern Canada. They The Red-Breasted Nuthatches will spend the winter within their breeding range, but when food supplies run low, this irruptive bird will migrate further south as far as the Gulf Coast, Florida and northern Mexico.
Other Names: Canada Nuthatch, Devil-Down-Head, Red-Bellied Nuthatch, Red-Breasted Nuthatche, Topsy-Turvy-Bird
Color: You can easily distinguish the Red-Breasted Nuthatch because of its white face and throat. A dark black line runs through the eye to the back, leaving a white line above it. The adult male has a black crown with dull blue upper parts and under parts of a rust or cinnamon color. Females have a similar appearance but the black is duller and under parts more pale.
Sound: Red-Breasted Nuthatches make a soft nasal “nyaa-nyaa” sound. It has often been described as a nasal bleating like a toy horn. Listen.
Preferred Environment: Red-Breasted Nuthatches favor coniferous and mixed wood forests, although during migration they are sometimes found in deciduous trees.
Nesting Habits:The Red-Breasted Nuthatch will excavate a nest cavity in an aspen or decaying cottonwood not far from coniferous trees and then apply sticky conifer resin around the entrance of its nest hole to keep predators like ants and snakes out and avoids the resin itself by diving directly through the hole Sometimes it willchoose a spruce tree trunk, stump or post. While building its nest, the red-breasted nuthatch is aggressive towards other bird species that it considers competitors such as the House Wren, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Downy Woodpecker.
Food Preference: Red-Breasted Nuthatches feed on insects, insect eggs and larvae as well as conifer seeds and love sunflower seed as well as nuts of all kinds. They feed with chickadees and titmice and are very competitive at feeding trays.
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How to Attract Red-Breasted Nuthatches
A nest box made up of Red Cedar is recommended for the red-breasted nuthatch. They can get a better grip with rough cut wood. It is best with about a 4” X 4” floor and a ceiling height of about 9”. The entrance hole should be 11/4” in diameter with about 6” from the floor to the bottom of the hole.
These cute, agile little birds are almost “fearless” of humans and will come very close so they’re a lot of fun to watch. They can even be hand tamed.
The Red breasted nuthatch feeds on insects and conifer seeds They store nuts in cracks of barks so they can eat it at a later time and survive shortages in mid-winter. At feeders, Nuthatches are social but very competitive at feeding trays and platform feeders. Fill your feeders with peanuts, sunflower seeds and suet. It’s worthwhile to attach suet feeders directly to your hopper feeders and to use simple peanut feeders.
Suggested Feeders for Red-Breasted Nuthatches
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