Red-breasted Nuthatch

Sitta canadensis · Nuthatches (Sittidae)

2 — Out most days, if you look.

Status

Year-round in northern and montane conifers; irruptive elsewhere, abundant some winters and nearly absent others

Length

4.3 in

Regions

Coast · Merrimack · Lakes · The Whites · Conn. River

What you notice first

A tinny, nasal "yank" like a tiny toy horn, higher and faster than a White-breasted Nuthatch — often from high in a spruce before you see the bird.

Voice

A rapid, high, nasal "yna-yna-yna," toy-trumpet quality; more insistent and higher-pitched than its larger cousin.

Where & when

Spruce-fir forest in the North Country and White Mountains year-round. In "flight years," conifers, mixed woods, and feeders across the whole state from late summer through winter. Some winters you won't find one in the south.

The little nuthatch, and a bird that tells you what the northern forest did last year. When the spruce and fir cone crop fails across the boreal zone, Red-breasted Nuthatches move south in numbers — an “irruption” — and turn up at feeders far outside their normal range. Good crop, they stay put and you may not see one below the notches all winter.

Marks: bold black cap, white eyebrow, black eyeline, and a rusty wash underneath that’s stronger on males. Smaller and more compact than a White-breasted, and more likely to be out at the tips of conifer branches.

They smear sticky conifer resin around the entrance to their nest hole, apparently to deter insects and competitors, and dodge the sap on the way in.