The Upside Down White-breasted Nuthatch

Uncommon in Southern States, It Prefers Cooler Northern Climates

May 15, 2009

This oddly neckless little tri-colored creeper, crawls upside down over every tree trunk and branch, meticulously vacuuming up every bug and tree caterpillar it can find.

The White-breasted Nuthatch is 5-6” long, short tailed, and thick-necked. The crown and nape are solid black, with white on the face completely surrounding the eye, and white underparts with rusty patches under the tail. Upper back and wings are blue with dark wing bars. The dark slate bill is slightly upcurved and as long as the head. Genders look similar, but females may be duller.

Nuthatch Habitat and Calls

North American nuthatches range from southern Canada to rare sightings as far south as Mexico, in Asia, and parts of Europe. They prefer temperate to cool climates, near sea level in the north, and in cooler highlands in the south; residing in pairs year-round in a territory of about 25 acres. They have numerous different calls, often being identified by the most common, ah-ah-ah, and an abrupt nasal yank yank.

Foraging and Diet

Nuthatches feed uniquely, upside down, with a purposeful jerky scooting along tree trunks and under branches. Possibly as a hunting maneuver to avoid missing bugs or being a target of predators, they do not move straight downward, but rather descend at an angle from higher to lower positions, sometimes zig-zagging from left to right, other times circling a tree trunk in just the one direction. Then they fly higher on the same tree or another and work their way down again. All nuthatches feed this way; the White-breasted Nuthatch preferring deciduous trees on the edges of woodlands and cleared areas, while other species live mostly in pine forests.

Foraging like woodpeckers, nuthatches pick gypsy moth larvae, tent caterpillars, beetles, spiders, and ants from tree trunks and branches. As insectivores, these are a major portion of their diets, especially during the breeding season when they rely on live prey. During winters, they may eat seed, suet, and nut meats, store food in trees, and occasionally near the ground.

Nuthatches wedge larger items like suet chunks and nuts into tree bark niches, as well as large insects such as mealworms and snails, pounding them in with their bills. This may be for storage, or for immobilization to break them apart with their beaks. They drink accumulated rain water from tree crotches, hang upside-down under branches to drink sap, or stretch downward upside-down to drink water from wet leaves.

Breeding and Nesting

Nuthatches mate for life (3-9 yrs), remain in the same territory, and produce only one brood annually. Although several species of American nuthatch are co-operative breeders, the White-breasted is not. The young stay with parents for several weeks, then disperse and establish their own territory, usually in pairs, and breed the following year. Pairs feed together only within their territory. Other times they feed alone, and during winter may join foraging flocks of wintering titmice, chickadees, small woodpeckers, and creepers.

They choose high nesting locations and cavities with overhead access, shunning low birdhouses with overhanging rooves that prevent entering upside down from the top. Their small nests contain shredded bark, grass, moss, animal fur, and feathers.

Like many woodland birds, nuthatches may be preyed upon by the multiple varieties of small hawks and owls, even woodpeckers. Squirrels can decimate nuthatch nests, eating eggs and young. White Breasted Nuthatches also show considerable fear of House Wrens, suggesting that this small assassin may not only compete for nesting cavities, but is instinctively well-known to them as a destroyer.

It is unclear whether the White-breasted Nuthatch eats or merely ‘uses’ Blister Beetles. They smear the entrances to their nest cavities with these insects’ toxin (cantharidin), which causes blistering on human skin and likely repels predators such as squirrels interested in eating nuthatch young.

The eggs, white with rusty or gray speckles, are laid from April to May, and incubated only by the female (who is fed by the male). The clutch is from 5-9 eggs, which are incubated for 2-3 weeks. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge in 3-4 weeks.

The White-breasted Nuthatch is a friendly bird, often inhabiting residential areas, visiting backyard feeders, and may accept hand feeding.

Grubb, Jr., T. C. and V. V. Pravosudov. 2008. White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis),

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America, New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.

The copyright of the article The Upside Down White-breasted Nuthatch in Wild Birds is owned by Marie Thomas. Permission to republish The Upside Down White-breasted Nuthatch in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.